Crime Victims & Rape Crisis Center
Prioritizing Prevention
In 2019, the Crime Victims & Rape Crisis Center (CVRCC) served 3,996 victims of crime.  Yes, you read that right.  Almost 4,000 victims. And we know there are so many more people in Shelby County who have been impacted by crime but don’t know about our services or for some reason feel they can’t access them.  

This is why CVRCC’s mission is more than providing comprehensive services and resources to victims of crime. Quality, trauma-informed, and victim-centered services are important, but we know we have to work harder to get the word out about our agency’s services and about the symptoms and impact that people who suffer from trauma can experience.  To let our community know that we are here to help them on their journey towards resiliency and healing from that trauma, no matter how long ago the crime occurred.  

We also know that we have to figure out how to get ahead of this problem, to keep people from being victimized, to reduce the number of people suffering from violence-related trauma in our community.  We have to put our resources—time, money, and staffing—towards violence prevention efforts.  We have to PRIORITIZE PREVENTION.  

Primary violence prevention includes any action, strategy, or policy that works to prevent violence from occurring in the first place.  Primary prevention seeks to reduce the overall likelihood that anyone will become a victim or offender of crime by creating conditions that make violence less likely to occur.    

We are pleased to announce that we have recently been granted Rape Prevention and Education funding from the Tennessee Department of Health which allows us to hire our first-ever full-time prevention staff. This new staff member will join our two existing part-time staff to help expand our violence prevention efforts, like the healthy relationships classes we hold for Shelby County Schools or the Hope & Healing workshops we are piloting with Job Corps. That team is also working with Memphis Public Libraries, City of Memphis Ambassadors Program (MAP), and BRIDGES USA to get youth involved from across our county in leading their families and their communities in living violence-free lives.  For more information, call 901-222-3950. 

Partner Survey

Please help us assess our collaboration efforts by taking this brief survey. The Shelby County Crime Victims & Rape Crisis Center is fueled by strong partnerships throughout the county. In order to best serve residents, we are asking the community to help assess our collaborative efforts by taking a brief survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/CVRCCPartner .