The USF College of Public Health (COPH) Activist Lab received an Advocacy on Campuses that Impacts Our Nation (A.C.T.I.O.N.) grant from the American Public Health Association Student Assembly on March 8.

The Activist Lab serves as the hub of excellence in providing interdisciplinary advocacy, education, research and service opportunities for students to develop the skills that will promote their success as effective public health advocates and leaders.

The $500 grant gave the Activist Lab the opportunity to design a grassroots advocacy project.

Activist Lab students Rolando Trejos, Carla Salazar, Rashmi Mathur and Kayla Wilson designed an educational campaign to advocate for awareness regarding sexual assault for USF students. The campaign was implemented in the spring of 2021, during National Public Health Week. 

For the campaign, the students hosted a series of events through the spring semester. On March 26, they conducted a Sexual Assault Awareness Lunch ‘N Learn with Jennifer Kovacs, victim advocate/interim assistant director for the USF Center for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention. Kovacs spoke about sexual violence, especially on college campuses, and the support services available at USF.

Next, the Activist Lab completed a “How to Support a Survivor Training.” Offered by the USF Center for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention, the students completed this training to learn how to better advocate for survivors and to prepare for their final event, a sexual assault awareness panel presentation titled “A Trauma-Informed Care Perspective” for National Public Health Week.

The panel included Jessica Pinto, advocate manager at Crisis Center of Tampa Bay; Dr. Abraham Salinas-Miranda, COPH assistant professor and director of the USF Harrell Center; Jessica Dutil, staff clinician at the USF Counseling Center; and Kovacs.

“It means a lot to have won this grant, especially since it was open to submissions from public health students across the United States,” Kayla Wilson, an Activist Lab member who worked on the campaign, said. “Millions of people are affected by sexual violence in the U.S., and it is a major public health issue, so I am glad we were given this opportunity to host an educational campaign at USF during National Public Health Week and during the month dedicated to sexual assault awareness.”

Wilson said that earning this grant allows for her and the Activist Lab to continue to practice advocacy surrounding major public health issues, such as sexual assault, and that the skills learned will be useful for any future public health careers that they pursue.

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health