The Centre for Safer Sex and Sexual Violence Support (CSSSVS) will be able to provide more assistance to the Ryerson community this year thanks to additional funding from the Ryerson Students’ Union.
The boost amounts to an increase of $108,034 from last year and was announced in the 2021-2022 RSU budget. More money was also set aside for the Good Food Centre, which saw a growth in funding from $195,416 in 2020-2021 to $269,450 in 2021-2022.
The centre’s support co-ordinator, Samantha DeFranco, says that the money has been and will continue to be used to facilitate three different projects.
Much of the funds have gone towards the CSSSVS’ menstrual kit pilot project. The group mailed out 2,000 menstrual kits to students over the past year. “Period poverty has been on the rise during the pandemic and people are having a harder time accessing free menstrual products, so we wanted to ensure any student that needed [them] had access to these products,” DeFranco said.
The CSSSVS also launched a new texting line and revamped its calling line. Instead of calling via cell connection to get in contact with the centre, students can now text over SMS or WhatsApp. Community members can now call using internet connection, which makes the CSSSVS’ services much more accessible for international students. They also increased their monitoring hours to 24/7, 365 days a year.
“Creating these new systems has an upfront cost,” DeFranco said. “However, we believe that the benefit to students is well worth the startup expense.”
The group is gearing up for International Women’s Week (March 7-13) and will be facilitating a new discussion each day around a different area of bias or discrimination via their Instagram. “We’re inviting everyone to join the conversation,” DeFranco said.
The CSSSVS hasn’t yet reopened in person, but is looking to soon. In the meantime, DeFranco assured that all of the centre’s services are available online.
The Sexual Assault Survivor Support Chat/Text Line can be reached anytime via SMS or WhatsApp at 437-600-7575, or via call or text at 416-260-0100. The Sexual Assault Survivor Support Voice Chat can be found at onedialrsu.com.
Trevor Popoff was the features editor at On The Record in the Winter 2022 semester.
