08/18/09 Attorney General Presenting Certificates to Graduates of first Victim Assistance Academy State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Department of Attorney General 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903 Patrick C. Lynch, Attorney General   Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch will present certificates to 34 graduates of the first Rhode Island State Victim Assistance Academy (RISVAA) at closing ceremonies tomorrow, Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 4 PM, at Roger Williams University’s Baypoint Conference Center, 144 Anthony Road, Portsmouth. The media is invited to provide coverage. All 34 participants of the RISVAA who are receiving certificates completed an intensive all-day program that was held on five consecutive Wednesdays starting on July 22. RISVAA, which is based on a national model developed by the US Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime, resulted from a grant awarded to Family Service of Rhode Island by the DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime. Family Service of RI partnered with Roger Williams University and its Justice System Training and Research Institute to create the academy. A steering committee consisting of key agencies including the Attorney General’s Office, the US Attorney’s Office, Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence (RICADV), RI Crime Victim Compensation Program, Providence and Warwick Police Departments, Day One and others, met for one year to develop the curriculum, which is based on the DOJ’s national model.   In order to be eligible for the RISVAA, candidates must serve in a paid or volunteer position in which they have direct contact with victims of crime in the state, and must have less than five years of experience in working with victims and their families.  Victim service providers participating in the RISVAA included representatives from the Department of Elderly Affairs’ Protective Services Unit, Narragansett Indian Health Center, Brown University, Family Service of RI, Day One, CHisPA, Child and Family Services of Newport County, Rhode Island College, RICADV, Providence Police Department, The Met School, Southeast Asian Development Corporation and the East Bay Center. “The Rhode Island State Victim Assistance Academy is a tangible way to help victim advocates become even better at fulfilling their important and very demanding responsibilities,” said Attorney General Lynch. “I am proud to have had so many members of our department contributing toward the establishment and curriculum of the academy.” Lynch noted that his office’s director of victim services, Ana Giron, the chief of his criminal unit, Stacey Veroni, and the chief of his domestic violence unit, Maureen Keough, all served on the faculty of the RISVAA, while another member of his staff offered a compelling presentation on her experience as a family member of a homicide victim. Faculty members also will be present at tomorrow’s closing ceremony. With the creation of RISVAA, Rhode Island now joins a national community of victim service providers committed to the dissemination of best practices within the field of victim services.   #          #          #