Catalyzing the field of sexual assualt prevention in the United States.
Jess Ladd has dedicated her career to advancing sexual health and wellbeing through a public health lens and through using technology tools. She created her own major in Public Policy and Human Sexuality at Pomona College and has a Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology and Health Communication from Johns Hopkins University, where she founded the Social Innovation Lab, an accelerator for student-led social innovation projects. She has worked as a sexual health educator and researcher for a variety of organizations and done policy work around HIV/STD prevention with the White House Office of National AIDS Policy and the AIDS Institute. In 2015, Jess founded Callisto, a tech platform for sexual assault reporting that is now available at every college campus in the US. Jess is a Y Combinator Alum, Ashoka Fellow, Senior TED Fellow, and has received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the National Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by a Private Citizen.
There are more than 100 million survivors of sexual assault in the United States, and rates of sexual assault are increasing. The negative impacts of sexual assault on physical, mental and social well-being are significant and last a lifetime. Although over 17% of Americans have personally been raped, all foundations in the US combined give less than $50 million to address sexual assault each year, and no foundation gave more than $1 million to this issue in 2022. Moreover, there is not a single grantmaking foundation focused on preventing this problem. Compared to other issue areas, these are shockingly low numbers, especially given the scope and impact of the problem.
The funding that is provided in the sexual assault space is primarily directed towards response and survivor support, with minimal allocation for prevention efforts. This creates an ecosystem problem where existing funders feel overwhelmed and prevention organizations remain small, underfunded, and unable to demonstrate impact at scale. Limited funding for research and evaluation has led to a dearth of evidence-based prevention programs and there is little support for policy advocacy nor litigation to create systemic change. The lack of coordination and robust investment opportunities have resulted in the field being severely underfunded and thus, underdeveloped.
Jess is seeking to address this gap by building the Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault. The Fund aims to catalyze the field of sexual assault prevention through:
UP’s award will support Jess to set up the infrastructure and outreach strategy of the Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault to catalyze the field of sexual assault prevention in the US.
Learn more about Jess Ladd and The Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault here.
Jess Ladd has dedicated her career to advancing sexual health and wellbeing through a public health lens and through using technology tools. She created her own major in Public Policy and Human Sexuality at Pomona College and has a Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology and Health Communication from Johns Hopkins University, where she founded the Social Innovation Lab, an accelerator for student-led social innovation projects. She has worked as a sexual health educator and researcher for a variety of organizations and done policy work around HIV/STD prevention with the White House Office of National AIDS Policy and the AIDS Institute. In 2015, Jess founded Callisto, a tech platform for sexual assault reporting that is now available at every college campus in the US. Jess is a Y Combinator Alum, Ashoka Fellow, Senior TED Fellow, and has received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the National Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by a Private Citizen.
There are more than 100 million survivors of sexual assault in the United States, and rates of sexual assault are increasing. The negative impacts of sexual assault on physical, mental and social well-being are significant and last a lifetime. Although over 17% of Americans have personally been raped, all foundations in the US combined give less than $50 million to address sexual assault each year, and no foundation gave more than $1 million to this issue in 2022. Moreover, there is not a single grantmaking foundation focused on preventing this problem. Compared to other issue areas, these are shockingly low numbers, especially given the scope and impact of the problem.
The funding that is provided in the sexual assault space is primarily directed towards response and survivor support, with minimal allocation for prevention efforts. This creates an ecosystem problem where existing funders feel overwhelmed and prevention organizations remain small, underfunded, and unable to demonstrate impact at scale. Limited funding for research and evaluation has led to a dearth of evidence-based prevention programs and there is little support for policy advocacy nor litigation to create systemic change. The lack of coordination and robust investment opportunities have resulted in the field being severely underfunded and thus, underdeveloped.
Jess is seeking to address this gap by building the Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault. The Fund aims to catalyze the field of sexual assault prevention through:
- Resourcing: Find and fund ambitious solutions and help to scale what works.
- Researching: Understand and measure the problem and share learnings.
- Rallying: Inspire and challenge other funders to significantly increase capital for this neglected cause.
UP’s award will support Jess to set up the infrastructure and outreach strategy of the Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault to catalyze the field of sexual assault prevention in the US.
Learn more about Jess Ladd and The Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault here.