Rape Crisis Advocate Training Curriculum Consultant

About the Project

The Alliance Against Sexual Violence is developing a statewide 40-hour rape crisis advocate training curriculum for New York State rape crisis programs (RCPs). The curriculum will prepare staff and volunteer advocates to provide survivor-centered, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and accessible helpline and hospital response across diverse communities. The curriculum and accompanying materials will meet NYSDOH requirements and align with the NYSDOH Rape Crisis Counselor Certification Training Program Review Rubric. The consultant will lead curriculum development in collaboration with Alliance staff, NYSDOH, subject matter experts, and RCP representatives, producing facilitator-ready materials within the project timeline.

Scope of Work

The consultant will be responsible for:

• Review applicable NYSDOH requirements, certification materials, competencies, the Survivor Bill of Rights, and relevant Alliance resources to identify curriculum requirements and gaps.
• Design a sequenced 40-hour curriculum with measurable learning objectives, appropriate hour allocations, opportunities for local adaptation, and integrated knowledge, skills practice, reflection, and assessment.
• Develop and/or substantially revise curriculum and training materials using adult-learning, collaborative-learning, trauma-informed, anti-racist, health-equity, accessibility, and universal-design principles.
• Ensure the content prepares advocates for helpline and hospital response and addresses confidentiality and privilege, crisis intervention, communication, medical and forensic response, legal systems and NYS law, child abuse and mandated reporting, resources and referrals, and equitable service delivery.
• Engage RCP staff and other stakeholders and coordinate appropriate legal, clinical, accessibility, equity, and programmatic subject matter experts within the approved scope and budget.
• Coordinate the NYSDOH review and approval process and incorporate required revisions throughout curriculum development.
• Maintain appropriate standards for citations, permissions, accessibility, terminology, documentation, and version control.
• Participate in weekly Alliance project meetings and submit drafts through the designated project workspace for review, feedback, and next-step planning.

Required Qualifications

• At least five years of relevant experience in sexual violence intervention, rape crisis advocacy, training, or closely related work.
• Demonstrated experience working with or within a rape crisis program.
• Experience developing, leading, or substantially revising a 40-hour rape crisis advocate or comparable crisis-response training.
• Strong curriculum design skills, including adult learning, applied practice, assessment, and facilitator guidance.
• Working knowledge of survivor-centered, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, anti-oppressive, and accessible advocacy practices.
• Ability to translate complex legal, medical, clinical, and policy information into accurate and understandable training materials while recognizing the limits of one’s expertise.
• Experience facilitating focus groups, interviews, listening sessions, or other stakeholder engagement processes.
• Strong project management, writing, editing, facilitation, and collaboration skills, including managing complex deliverables on accelerated timelines.
• Familiarity with relevant policies that impact the sector and the work of the programs that will utilize this training in the long run, such as New York Public Health Law § 2805-i.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience working with or within New York State RCPs.
• Familiarity with NYSDOH RCP certification requirements, 10 NYCRR Subpart 69-5, and New York confidentiality and privilege protections.
• Experience developing statewide, train-the-trainer, blended, or modular curricula.
• Experience with helpline advocacy, hospital accompaniment, SAFE/SANE programs, disability access, language access, or culturally specific services.
• Demonstrated skill producing accessible PowerPoint and other forms of materials and maintaining source citations and permissions.
• Experience working with coalitions, membership organizations, or multi-agency projects.
• Competent in Coalition Manager and project development on its platform.