Organization History
In 1974, a task force assembled by the Chapel Hill chapter of the National Organization for Women opened the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Rape Crisis Center to respond to concerns about sexual violence in the community. The center had no funding or office space—volunteers met at the home of the NOW chapter president—but they did have a three-fold mission: to comfort survivors, change public opinion and change the law.
The first few years were not easy; the center was staffed solely by volunteers and funding was difficult to obtain. The first coordinator of the center was a volunteer. In 1978, the center was incorporated as the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Rape Crisis Center. The first office was a location on Columbia Street shared with the Coalition for Battered Women and the Women’s Health Counseling Service. The center’s office was later moved to West Rosemary Street.
In 1979, after receiving funding from the town of Chapel Hill and Orange County, the center hired its first full-time director. Over the next three years, a number of changes occurred: volunteers were trained to give community presentations, the center co-sponsored the first Take Back the Night march in Chapel Hill, the first male volunteer was trained and clients began to be called survivors rather than victims. The organization’s name was also changed to the Orange County Rape Crisis Center to reflect its county-wide service area.
The 1980s saw the staff grow to four people and services expand to include not only women but children, men and child sexual abuse survivors. Child sexual abuse prevention programs were started. The center also hired its first male staff member.
During the 1990s, the center moved from a location on West Rosemary Street to its current location on Estes Drive. In 1998, a satellite office was opened in Hillsborough.
The Orange County Rape Crisis Center now employs six full-time staff members and has a $377,139 budget. The center has started a Spanish-Language Interpreter program and uses a bilingual answering service for the after-hours crisis line. In 2003, the first countywide Sexual Assault Response Team was started to encourage collaboration among medical, legal and law enforcement agencies.
Some information taken from Rochelle Williams’ article 30 Years of Serving Orange County: An Historical Perspective.
The article appeared in the August 2004 issue of The Center Line.
