AVALON INSTITUTE

Summary 

A local Detroit organization providing care and advocacy for survivors of sexual assault systems is also at the forefront of change and prevention of sexual violence across the state and country. This organization’s expertise surrounding prevention strategies for sexual violence, human trafficking, and pediatric needs has led to an increasing number of requests over the past few years to provide training to various community organizations and corporations around the state and the country. How can this organization reach the ever-growing number of individuals and organizations seeking its training services? Could a program model be developed that would provide an additional income stream of earned revenue to grow its presence statewide and nationally, and have a major impact on providing compassionate and trauma-informed care to survivors of sexual assault on a larger geographic scale?

These are just a few of the concerns Spark Group Consulting and Avalon Healing Center of Detroit, with funding through a grant from Co.Act Detroit, addressed while working together to develop an extensive training program offered on a newly developed online platform.

Spark Group and Avalon developed a programming model and fee structure, and formalized the training curriculum. Another partnering organization, WeThrive, developed the training platform interface. Given the name Avalon Institute, this model and corresponding online platform provides education to increase awareness about sexual assault and to improve survivors’ experiences within the systems and communities they engage.

 The situation

Avalon Healing Center is currently the largest and busiest program in the state offering compassionate and trauma-informed care to survivors of sexual assault. Avalon inspires healing and empowerment for those affected by sexual violence through free and immediate comprehensive services; promotes public awareness; and advances social change.

In addition to medical-forensic services, Avalon’s parallel track of community-based, empowerment-focused advocacy provides crisis intervention, counseling, advocacy and supportive services.

Through its work, Avalon aims to advance social justice and systems change by being a leader and an integral partner, and endeavors at the local, state and national levels to improving the overall response and standard of care provided to victims of sexual assault. One such method is the provision of training sessions on various topics Avalon offers to community organizations, partners, and service providers.

An increasing demand for Avalon’s training services – especially trainings delivered remotely and on a larger geographic scale – led Avalon to apply for and receive grant money to develop the Avalon Institute.

The Avalon Institute is an online training platform that provides the opportunity for Avalon to more thoroughly focus on a long-term systems change model, preventing sexual violence and human trafficking in Metro Detroit and beyond as more individuals are trained on sexual violence and its prevalence in the community.

Spark Group Consulting assisted Avalon Healing Center to develop a Program Design Plan in order to create and implement Avalon Institute.

Goals (bullet points)

·   Establish and formalize operations for Avalon Institute

·   Consider platform accessibility options

·   Develop a marketing Strategy

·   Set financial targets

Challenges (bullet points)

While Avalon possessed the knowledge and expertise to create and deliver the necessary trainings, the challenge was creating a financial and marketing model for the Avalon Institute to be self-sufficient beyond the initial grant funding. The model should diversify Avalon’s funding streams to add the additional earned revenue funding stream, to have a major impact on providing compassionate and trauma-informed care to survivors of sexual assault on a larger geographic scale.

The approach

Spark Group uses a 4 phase process for program creation: Explore, Design, Implement, Evaluate.

In the Design Phase, to get a better idea of the current external environment regarding trainings around providing support for survivors of sexual support, we researched six other national organizations that either work to support sexual assault survivors, offer online trainings, or a combination of both.

A stakeholder survey was sent out as part of the Needs Assessment process. The stakeholders' responses clearly indicated that continuing education and training focused on sexual assault is something they value, with a vast majority indicating they see it as a need for their community.

In the Design Phase of the process, the team sought answers to these key questions: What is the mission of this program? What leadership is needed? What are the program goals? A SWOT Analysis was completed, Project Timeline set, Theory of Change created, and an Operations Report and Evaluation Plan written. 

In the Implementation phase, the team reviewed the data and information gathered in the earlier phases of the process, to apply to the processes of considering platform accessibility options, developing a marketing strategy, and setting financial targets. 

In the final, Evaluation Phase, the team addressed the key questions: What are our results?  And How do we communicate success to our stakeholders? The answers to these questions formed the basis of the Evaluation Report and Communications Plan presented to Avalon.

The results

The project's primary goal of providing options for virtual and in-person trainings on a variety of topics related to the work of Avalon Healing Center was achieved through a collaborative effort with the Avalon team, Spark Group Consulting, and WeThrive. Through work with the partnering service providers, Avalon developed a programming model and fee structure, and formalized the training curriculum. In the long term through Avalon Institute, Avalon Healing Center can create a new earned revenue stream for long-term organizational sustainability, and increase the services offered to survivors.

 Success metrics:

·   13 Online trainings offered at launch

·   3 collaborative partner organizations

·   3 trainings available for purchase

·   1560 submitted training minutes