Haifa Rape Crisis Center (HRCC)

The Haifa Rape Crisis Center (HRCC) serves to combat sexual violence of any kind. The HRCC was founded in 1979, and serves the Haifa and northern area of Israel. This includes a total of 41 municipalities from Hadera to the Upper Galilee, with a population of over a million children, youth and adults. The HRCC’s main goals include: • Supporting victims of sexual violence and their family members • Working amongst children and youth to prevent sexual violence • Increasing awareness of sexual violence and its consequences among professionals and community members • Protecting and advocating for victim’s rights The Haifa Rape Crisis Center has 41 years of experience in preventing sexual violence. The center works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to combat sexual abuse, helping victims and pushing for a more equal and respecting society for our children. The HRCC aspires first and foremost to prevent assault and reach victims as close as possible to the offense, in order to minimize the mental damages. There is no other all-encompassing body that serves all of Haifa and the north of Israel regarding sexual violence. Most of our services are offered by volunteers, with the guidance of our professional staff. During the pandemic, the calls to the hotline have more than doubled. The Center’s telephone hotline operates 24 hours a day 365 days a year (1202 from every single telephone in the north). The hotline answers to victims of rape, sexual assault, incest, and sexual harassment. The lines are staffed by 80 female volunteers that have gone through an intensive, 6-month training procedure. In addition to the telephone hotline, The Haifa Rape Crisis Center also provides a WhatsApp support chat, which operates 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. This text-based service allows victims to reach support in environments where speaking out loud would not be safe, and enables them to write about things that may be very difficult to express out loud. Through our legal consultation service, victims are equipped with information criminal reporting and other legal proceedings, as well as their own rights. Moreover, volunteers escort the victim to hospital, police stations, attorney meetings, and courts. The HRCC also assists victims in the long term, providing group therapy sessions. Our support groups are targeted at adolescents and women, victims of sexual violence, family members and partners of survivors, and more. The Haifa Rape Crisis Center also provides educational services, focusing on changing the way our society treats victims of sexual violence and eventually abolishing the phenomenon entirely. Every year, we conduct hundreds of workshops for young people and adults. Furthermore, the education department of The HRCC trains educational teams in institutes and works to prevent sexual harassment in the work place. Our advocacy team holds workshops for professionals regarding proper treatment for sexual violent victims, including psychologists, social workers, psychology students, and police detectives. This donation is approved for tax purposes due to section 46a.