BATON ROUGE, LA — April 3, 2018 — Today, Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome and Sexual Trauma Awareness & Response® (STAR) invite the community to show their support for survivors of domestic and sexual violence and make a commitment to Start By Believing.

This initiative will kick-off a month of events to honor April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Mayor Broome, along with her Women's Advancement Commission and STAR, hosted a joint press conference on Tuesday, April 3 to encourage the community to get involved in taking a stand against violence committed against women and girls in East Baton Rouge Parish and beyond.

Mayor Broome announced that her Women’s Advancement Commission would begin a series of community listening sessions with survivors beginning at the end of April.

Start by Believing Day provides an opportunity for communities across the country, and around the world, to unify with one meaningful message for survivors of sexual assault: We hear you and we are here to help you.

This April, add your voice to the #StartByBelieving campaign by posting a statement of support for survivors via a post of video on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and tag STAR @staradvocates.

Additional information about STAR’s services can be found here.

STAR is a local, 501(c)(3) non-profit with a vision of building a healthy community free from oppression and sexual violence. STAR’s mission is to support survivors of sexual trauma, improve systems response, and create social change to end sexual violence. For more information, please visit www.star.ngo.
Start by Believing is a public awareness campaign designed to end the cycle of silence and change the way we respond to sexual assault. It was first launched in April 2011. Since then, thousands of people across the country and around the world have made their own personal commitments.