In Mariposa, California, 100 certificates of appreciation were given to many of the local criminal justice agency professionals, including those in the sheriff's department, the victim witness program, the district attorney's office, the domestic violence response team, and the probation department, to thank them for the job they do on behalf of victims. In addition to certificates, a cake was presented to the sheriff's department at a departmental training program with "National Crime Victims' Rights Week—Thanks for all you do for victims of crime!" imprinted on the frosting. A photo was taken and featured in the local newspaper.

Interfaith Collaborations

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a townhall forum was held during NCVRW for faith-based communities and the community at large, with 10 different faiths represented. A national expert on faith-based and community response facilitated a training program and conversation to generate ideas about improving faith-based communities' responses to crime victims. The participants requested more information and future opportunities to strategize further on the response to victims of crime.

In Arlington, Texas, the Daughters of Abraham, a group of women of three diverse faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—collaborated with other faith-based organizations and 22 local victim service agencies to conduct a media campaign to promote NCVRW, with an emphasis on issues related to bias-related crimes. The media campaign placed ads or feature stories in area newspapers every day of NCVRW, providing information to more than 650,000 households covered by the circulation of the publications. Featured stories were also placed in America's Muslim Family magazine and the Texas Jewish Post during NCVRW.

Other Newspaper Campaigns

Many of the OVC NCVRW Community Awareness Project jurisdictions implemented newspaper campaigns to promote events and share information through feature stories and advertisements about local crime victims' needs and services. In Marion, Indiana, banner ads with the Grant County 24-hour crisis hotline phone number appeared in the local newspaper on 4 days during NCVRW. In addition, the banner ad was placed on the newspaper's weekly publication that is distributed to households that do not subscribe to the newspaper, and was also displayed on its Web site for 30 days beginning during NCVRW.

Web Site Development

In Allen County, Indiana, the NCVRW collaborative partners developed a Web page to enhance knowledge about crime victimization and crime victims' rights (http://users.ipfw.edu/hollandd/crimerights). The Web page provided general information about victim services available in the community. Also, PowerPoint presentations were created about verbal abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, and crime victims' rights. The Web page and PowerPoint presentations were showcased at the county's Community Awareness and Educational Fair. The PowerPoint presentations were made available for download by the public from the Web page.

Several of the OVC NCVRW Community Awareness Project grantees used their existing Web pages to build awareness of NCVRW or to promote specific events for the week. The Daughters of Abraham Web site in Arlington, Texas, was enhanced to include information about its NCVRW public awareness campaign, an invitation to participate in its NCVRW awards ceremony, pictures and biographies of the award winners, and photos and video clips of highlights from the campaign's NCVRW press conference. A number of the 67 OVC-supported projects also used community and agency databases and listservs for e-mail distribution of NCVRW information, fliers, invitations, and promotion of events through the Internet.

NCVRW Billboards

Several of the OVC NCVRW Community Awareness Project jurisdictions used billboards to build community awareness during NCVRW. In St. Landry and Evangeline Parishes, Louisiana, billboard space was secured for the entire month of April. This advertising prompted several viewers to call the listed 24-hour crisis line and request services. In Grant County, Indiana, two billboards depicting the local 24-hour crisis line and local toll free assistance numbers were posted in prominent traffic areas on either side of the city of Marion for 30 days.

Poster Campaigns

Several of the OVC NCVRW Community Awareness Project jurisdictions used posters to build community awareness and promote NCVRW events. In Duchess County, New York, the Crime Victims Assistance Program created and distributed posters to educate victims about community resources and inform them that they are not alone in their fight for justice. The posters also were aimed at improving the education, and reducing the isolation, of first responders to victims of violence. A series of four posters were created—each one specific to the arena in which it was to be displayed. Posters that were created for distribution to hospitals and medical offices depicted a nurse providing support to a victimized patient. Posters that were created for distribution to criminal justice agencies portrayed a law enforcement officer providing support to a victim. The final two posters were more general, and they portrayed a victim being supported and listened to by an advocate for distribution to faith-based organizations, businesses, and schools. The posters provided the local 24-hour crisis line number. Almost 1,200 posters were distributed throughout the community: 100 to businesses, 80 to criminal justice agencies, 330 to faith-based organizations, 460 to hospitals and medical offices, and 225 to the education system in Duchess County.

The Daughters of Abraham in Arlington, Texas, had 1,000 full-color posters of its campaign's newspaper ads printed with the heading "Have You Become a Victim of Crime? These Programs Can Help You," and a list of the 22 participating community victim service agencies in Tarrant County. The posters were placed in areas throughout the county where victims were most likely to see them, including college campuses.