Waubonsee, Mutual Ground Sign Agreement to Combat Domestic, Sexual Violence

Waubonsee, Mutual Ground Sign Agreement to Combat Domestic, Sexual Violence

Waubonsee Community College and the Aurora-based Mutual Ground signed a memorandum of agreement, formalizing a long-standing partnership that provides for services for survivors of, as well as prevention of domestic and sexual violence.

Located in Aurora, Mutual Ground serves the greater Aurora area, southern Kane and all of Kendall County. The agency is one of the oldest and largest domestic violence and sexual assault service agencies in the state.

The signing took place Friday at Waubonsee’s Sugar Grove campus, in front of a room full of Waubonsee administrators, faculty and staff, Mutual Ground board members and staff, local politicians and community members.

“Waubonsee has long considered Mutual Ground to be a trusted community partner, dating back to its inception in the 1970s,” said Kelli Sinclair, Waubonsee dean for Counseling, Career and Student Support. “My counseling team and I continually rely on the expertise of our Mutual Ground colleagues to serve students in need. Mutual Ground has also been a great resource for our instructional units — particularly Human Services — as well as for student life programming. Our partnership has always been one of informal support and collegiality.”

Sinclair explained that recent national and state legislation aimed at preventing sexual violence prompted the college and Mutual Ground to formalize their partnership.

“Mutual Ground’s role is more important than ever before as we work together to educate our students on sexual violence prevention, college support services and community resources for sexual violence survivors,” she said.

Michelle Meyer, executive eirector of Mutual Ground, commended Waubonsee for “taking a proactive approach” for supporting awareness, prevention and intervention on behalf of students.

“To acknowledge how important this relationship is to us means a lot,” Meyer said. “We’ve been partners for a really long time.”

As part of the memorandum of agreement, Mutual Ground will serve in the “confidential advisor” roles specified in the Illinois Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act (PA 99-426), and the college will provide public and confidential private space to Mutual Ground as needed.

SOURCE: Waubonsee Community College news release

About Mutual Ground

Screen Shot 2016-08-10 at 3.51.19 PMMutual Ground helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault free of charge. Its services include an emergency shelter along with all of the tools, support and services victims will need for the healing to begin.

  • If you feel that you are in immediate danger, call 911.
  • If you would like to speak with someone at Mutual Ground, call the 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline at 630-897-0080 or the Sexual Assault Hotline at 630-897-8383.

For more information, visit the Mutual Ground website.

About Waubonsee Community College

Waubonsee WCC logoCelebrating its 50th year, Waubonsee Community College is a public, compre­hensive community college which was organized in 1966, as mandated by the Illinois Community College Act, to provide education and training services for individuals in portions of Kane, Kendall, DeKalb, LaSalle and Will counties of District 516.

Waubonsee makes higher education accessible at four local campuses and online:

For more information, visit the Waubonsee Community College website.