BAWAR

BAWAR, a nonprofit rape crisis center, has offices in Oakland and Fremont and serves much of Alameda County. Since the agency was founded in 1971, by the mother of a teenage rape survivor, the staff has continually helped define national standards of service for survivors of sexual assault. BAWAR has extended its outreach internationally, hosting individuals from other countries who want to develop a rape crisis center as well as traveling to other countries to speak out against sexual assault.

We provide a 24-hour crisis hotline available to the community for anyone needing support in connection with surviving sexual assault. In addition, we provide in-person counseling at both our Oakland and Fremont office locations. For the areas of Alameda county that are within our jurisdiction, we also provide advocacy, support, and accompaniment for medical and legal/judicial processes that a survivor may be going through.

We understand the need for having a 24 hour hotline available for monolingual Spanish speakers, and have worked to develop a Spanish speaking volunteer base to serve the community.

Another element of our services within the community is the work of our S.E.M. program. There has been a national epidemic of sexually exploited minors, who are not being treated as criminal sex workers, but understood as being exploited minors. Working with law enforcement, BAWAR provides services to these exploited minors. This entails staff and volunteers going out in their own vehicles, along with police, to provide these minors with food, water, warm clothes, and support, and often providing ongoing support to offer anything we can towards creating more safety in the lives of these youth.