Who We Are - History & Mission

The Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault (IowaCASA) first opened it’s doors in 1981 to unite Iowa’s Sexual Assault Crisis Centers. IowaCASA was incorporated as a private non-profit organization in 1982. Over the years, our agency has experienced growth and changes. We have expanded from two to seventeen people.

IowaCASA’s mission is to unite people and organizations to promote a society free from sexual violence and to meet the diverse needs of survivors.

Early IowaCASA services included resource development, statewide awareness raising, presentations and trainings on child sexual abuse prevention, anti-pornography work, and self-defense training.

In 1990, the 14 sexual assault crisis centers in the state received their first state funding through the newly established Crime Victim Assistance Division. During this time, IowaCASA was very involved in the national debate surrounding the media use of rape victims' names and provided trainings on topics such as sexual exploitation by therapists, the relationship between domestic violence and sexual abuse, campus rape and therapy for adult incest survivors. The mid to late ‘90’s represented a tremendous growth period for IowaCASA as both an organization and state-wide entity.

By 1997, our coalition had doubled in size to include 30 member sexual assault crisis centers across the state! During this time, several staff positions were added to the IowaCASA team in an effort to support this growth. These positions included a training coordinator, fiscal manager and outreach staff.

During this time IowaCASA's work also focused on public policy issues. Some key work to highlight includes: create policy to have the presence of victim counselors during proceedings related to crime, the prohibition of polygraph as a precondition of a rape investigation, and increasing the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

Today, IowaCASA has 28 member sexual assault crisis centers serving survivors of sexual assault throughout Iowa. Seventeen staff work on several initiatives including: technical assistance and training to member centers; civil legal assistance for survivors of sexual assault, including immigration assistance; improving responses to sexual assault within communities of color; a national project providing peer-based assistance to other sexual assault coalitions; statewide sexual assault prevention; training for allied professionals; and public policy efforts at the state and national level.