FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 20th, 2022

WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre has Accepted a Nominal Lease from the City of Vancouver and will be Moving to a Confidential Downtown Location in Early 2023

(Vancouver, BC) — WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre has accepted a nominal lease from the City of Vancouver, and will be operating alongside other social-service organizations in a Downtown Vancouver hub as early as January of 2023.

“We are incredibly grateful for our longstanding relationship with the City of Vancouver, and are excited for how this new stage of our partnership will increase survivors ability to access our free-of-charge sexual assault support services” says Dalya Israel, WAVAW’s Executive Director. “WAVAW’s upcoming move downtown will not only increase accessibility for in-person services, but also offer valuable outreach opportunities to connect with survivors and service providers in the Downtown core and adjacent communities”.

The anticipated move will come just shy of WAVAW’s 40th anniversary in March of 2023, and will move WAVAW from its current Kitsilano-adjacent office space to a City of Vancouver-owned social-service hub in the Downtown Core; increasing accessibility by public transit including prominent bus routes and the Skytrain. Dalya also notes, “the nominal rent allows WAVAW to divert funds from previous rental costs and invest more sustainably in our life saving and affirming services for survivors, ensuring reliable and accessible programming for years to come.”

“After outgrowing our current location, and with the increased demand for our support services from the cascading effects of #MeToo, COVID-19, and other shadow pandemics, we are thrilled to be moving into a space that is reflective of our identity as British Columbia’s largest sexual assault centre” states Trina Price, Chair of WAVAW’s Board of Directors. “The need for an accessible, centralized location to house our wrap-around services is past imminent. We require this space to continue meeting survivors where they are at – whether it be in crisis, or decades into their healing journey. We are excited to step into this new space and reach even more survivors in need of our support.”

Additional information, including the launch of a public fundraising campaign to support with leasehold improvements and moving expenditures will be released closer to the move date.

At this time, WAVAW wants to highlight the following points:

WAVAW’s office will remain a confidential address to foster privacy and safety for both survivors and WAVAW staff

WAVAW will operate as a hybrid workspace: offering survivors of sexualized violence the opportunity to access in-person, video, and phone-based support services

WAVAW’s new office space will feature individual offices for counselling sessions and Victim Service meetings as well as communal spaces for ceremony, committee and coalition meetings, trainings, and other connection-based work

Since inception, WAVAW has been calling on all levels of government to provide renewable and sustainable support to survivors. This investment will not only alleviate financial stressors caused by unaffordable Vancouver rent cost, but represents a commitment from our municipal government to address sexualized violence in our community

After close to four decades of supporting survivors, WAVAW is humbled to receive this nominal lease in alignment with the City’s priorities and commitments towards critical social infrastructure for disproportionately impacted communities. Survivors are at the centre of everything WAVAW does, and we will keep survivors, community, and stakeholders informed as this exciting journey continues to unfold.

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Media Contact
Emily Oswald
Manager of Fund Development, WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre
604-255-6228 x 240
emily@salalsvsc.ca

WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre 24-hour Crisis & Information Line
National Toll-Free: 1-877-392-7583
Lower Mainland: 604-255-6344