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UTEP Receives Grant to Support Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault in Rural Counties

Last Updated on November 05, 2019 at 12:00 AM

Originally published November 05, 2019

By UC Staff

UTEP Communications

The University of Texas at El Paso’s Minority AIDS Research Center (MARC) has received federal funding to collaborate with the Center Against Sexual and Family Violence (CASFV) on a program to support victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in five West Texas rural counties.

UTEP’s Minority AIDS Research Center (MARC) has received federal funding to collaborate with the Center Against Sexual and Family Violence (CASFV) on a program to support victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in five West Texas rural counties. Thenral Mangadu, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of public health sciences and MARC’s director, the project will follow a holistic community-engaged partnership model first established with CASFV in 2012.
UTEP’s Minority AIDS Research Center (MARC) has received federal funding to collaborate with the Center Against Sexual and Family Violence (CASFV) on a program to support victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in five West Texas rural counties. Thenral Mangadu, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of public health sciences and MARC’s director, said that the project will follow a holistic community-engaged partnership model first established with CASFV in 2012.

MARC is a subrecipient of the $425,000 grant awarded to the CASFV from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). Additional partners include the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, Rio Grande Council of Governments and Aliviane, Inc. This is the only grant award for Texas in this funding cycle.

OVW’s Rural Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking Program (Rural Program) seeks to enhance the safety of rural victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking and support projects uniquely designed to address and prevent these crimes in rural areas.

According to Thenral Mangadu, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of public health sciences and MARC’s director, the project will follow a holistic community-engaged partnership model first established with CASFV in 2012 to provide prevention and response services in Hudspeth, Culberson, Presidio, Brewster and Jeff Davis counties, including assembling Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART) in service areas.

“This is MARC ‘s second federal subcontract for addressing rural health disparities this year,” Mangadu said. “MARC’s core partnership team is emerging as a leader in addressing rural health disparities in Texas-Mexico border communities.”

In July 2019, MARC was awarded federal funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Rural Communities Opioid Response Program.