About SPARC

Stalking impacts 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men in the United States. Yet, there is no stalking hotline, no stalking crisis centers, and it is often difficult for stalking victims to recognize what they are experiencing and/or know where to go for help. Our task at the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) of AEquitas is to “help the helpers”, making sure that the victim service providers (including domestic violence shelters and rape crisis agencies), campuses, law enforcement agencies, and other places where stalking victims come for help and support have the training and resources they need to better respond to victims and survivors.

MISSION

SPARC is a federally funded project providing education and resources about the crime of stalking. SPARC aims to enhance the response to stalking by educating the professionals tasked with keeping stalking victims safe and holding offenders accountable. SPARC ensures that allied professionals have the specialized knowledge to identify and respond to the crime of stalking.

FOCUS

As a comprehensive national resource center, SPARC takes a multifaceted approach to equipping service providers and criminal justice responders with the information and resources they need to better serve victims and survivors of stalking. This includes:

  • Providing in-person and online training to responders on recognizing and responding to stalking. As of July 2022, we’ve trained over 33,300 professionals across the country – and we’re not stopping until every survivor gets the informed, empathetic, and effective response that they deserve. Learn more here.
  • Creating discipline-specific materials and guidance. Check out our landing pages for Victim Service Providers, Law Enforcement, Prosecutors, Campus Professionals, Corrections/Probation, Judicial Officers,  Awareness Educators, and more.
  • Offering individualized technical assistance and policy/protocol development for professionals in the field. Have a question while working with a stalking survivor? Want to lead an awareness workshop but not sure where to start? Hoping to incorporate stalking into your organizational policies? We respond to individual requests from professionals to help inform their practice.
  • Sharing information on stalking’s prevalence, impacts, and dynamics – including how it affects marginalized communities and intersects with other crimes and victimizations. Stalking impacts every community and often co-occurs with other crimes and victimizations. Learn more from our infographics, fact sheets, videos, and social media.
  • Empowering stalking awareness efforts through National Stalking Awareness Month and resources for awareness educators. We are committed to elevating the discourse on stalking – in our field and in the general public. Our annual campaign is easy to share and adapt for your community, and our awareness programs are ready to implement year-round.

WHO WE SERVE

SPARC provides training and technical assistance to U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) grantees and potential grantees. Our trainings and resources are geared towards domestic and/or sexual violence response agencies, law enforcement, prosecutors, court personnel, corrections/probation, campus professionals (Title IX/student conduct), mental health providers, social workers, and others who help keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable.

SPARC is not a direct service provider and does not serve victims or survivors of stalking. When survivors contact us for help, all we can do is refer them elsewhere. If you’re experiencing stalking, contact Victim Connect for a referral to a local resource.

SPARC staff do NOT directly provide stalking awareness trainings for students and/or the general public. If you are interested in leading a public awareness training for a campus or community event, please see our public awareness workshops and activity ideas and/or connect with a local service provider.

SPARC is a project of AEquitas funded by the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). This project was supported by Grant No. 2017-TA-AX-K074.

Connect with SPARC

If you are a victim or survivor of stalking, please see our “What to Do if You are Being Stalked” page. SPARC cannot provide direct support to victims.

For individualized technical assistance, e-mail tta@stalkingawareness.org.
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Follow SPARC on social media! We’re @FollowUsLegally on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. We’re also on LinkedIn.