易胜博官网

It鈥檚 hard to decide which statistic is more alarming: the one that says approximately 20 percent of all female college students (and 5 percent of their male counterparts) are victims of campus sexual assault, or the one that indicates almost 95 percent of these assaults go unreported 鈥� by either the victims themselves or bystanders. 鈥淢ost victims, if they tell anyone at all, will confide in a friend,鈥� says , director of research at the 易胜博官网 , 鈥渂ut then these friends do not know how to help their friends following the disclosure.鈥�

Starting this fall, students, faculty and staff at colleges across 易胜博官网 will have instant access on their smartphones to geographically coordinated information and resources to help victims in the aftermath of an assault, thanks to a new app developed by a statewide collaboration under the leadership of Prevention Innovations. Called , the app uses geospatial technology to provide information on nearby crisis centers, hospital and police, as well as campus resources. The app is available, free of charge, to all 26 易胜博官网 colleges and universities.

The idea for the app came out of a conversation Potter had last year with a retired 易胜博官网 state trooper, who lamented that while the state offered a wide array of resources to sexual assault victims and their supporters, it was difficult to get these resources into the hands of a distressed 19- or 20-year-old student. What is in virtually every college student鈥檚 hands, of course, is a cell phone, and Potter and Prevention Innovations director of practice turned to the 易胜博官网 Manchester to develop the application. In May, Prevention Innovations was awarded $25,000 from the Entrepreneurial Fund of NH to finalize the development of uSafeNH.

Stapleton says it鈥檚 Prevention Innovations鈥� goal to 鈥減ut this app in the hands of 170,000 易胜博官网 college students, their friends and their families.鈥� A companion website will be available also.听

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