1. SURVIVOR-LED
EVALUATION
A Look Into Survivors' Experience Accessing
Support at Portland Women's Crisis Line
B a c k g r o u n d o f P o r t l a n d
W o m e n ' s C r i s i s L i n e
Continuous Improvement
We value survivors' voices and strive to understand what we do well, what needs
growth, and use this information to encourage, inspire, and cheer on our direct
service advocates by providing detailed feedback on what they are doing well
Portland Women's Crisis Line began in 1973 as a
response to sexual assault and domestic violence in
the Portland community. Currently, PWCL
serves Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Clark,
and Columbia counties through a 24/7 toll-free crisis
line. PWCL also has three direct service advocates
who provide ongoing support to survivors with a
focus on three under-served populations:
developmentally/intellectually disabled survivors,
sex workers, and houseless survivors. In 2015,
PWCL provided ongoing advocacy to over 150
survivors. PWCL also provides community
education and outreach, in-person sexual assault
response as well as support groups focused on sexual
assault survivors and their healing journey.
R e s e a r c h F i n d i n g s
Need for Best Practices
Identifying from survivors' perspectives what best practices are with ongoing
advocacy is needed to provide advocates the support they need to develop and
enhance their skills
Stakeholders and Community Partners
Evaluating survivors' experiences allows PWCL to demonstrate how services are
impacting survivors including successes and areas for growth to stakeholders and
partners
P r o j e c t O v e r v i e w
The purpose of the survivor-led evaluation is to gain insight into survivors' experiences
with direct service advocates at PWCL. Through focus groups of survivors who are or
have accessed ongoing advocacy at PWCL utilizing appreciative inquiry methods this
project seeks to: evaluate current practices, identify survivors' definitions of success, and
create best practices from survivors' perspectives. We believe that every survivor
deserves a voice, and we value survivors' voices in the work we do at PWCL.
F u n d i n g G o a l s
$ 4 0 0 0
PWCL is seeking a $4000 grant to fund our
survivor-led evaluation. This money is mainly
to support survivors in taking time to come and
speak with us about their access to services at 4
focus groups over a month's time
Meals for participants:
catered meal at every
focus group
Incentives for participants:
$100 gift cards for each focus
group
Transportation: bus passes
or gas cards
W h y a S u r v i v o r - L e d E v a l u a t i o n i s I m p o r t a n t
150
22,748
4 Staff present and 2
childcare takers
Number of survivors served
with ongoing services in 2015
Calls answered on crisis line in 2015