Visitors to many public buildings in Del Norte will find t-shirts hanging on the walls.

They’ll be up at the Crescent City Police Department, the Del Norte County Library, the Family Resource Center of the Redwoods, the Harrington House, Coastal Connections and at various offices in the Del Norte County Courthouse through the end of the month.

“Those t-shirts were made by survivors in this community,” Elizabeth Hutchens, Del Norte program supervisor for the North Coast Rape Crisis Team, told the Wild Rivers Outpost. “We don’t limit survivor voices or tell them what they can and cannot put on survivor t-shirts. We encourage survivors of all types of abuse to express themselves and get their voices heard.”

Though COVID-19 makes community outreach different this year, those t-shirts — part of the Clothesline Project — are designed to remind people that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The Clothesline Project will be up at Fine Line Design Tattoo, which is offering a selection of tattoos to commemorate Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Prices vary from $60 to $80 and proceeds go to the North Coast Rape Crisis Team.

The North Coast Rape Crisis Team were also recipients of a Crescent City proclamation Monday commemorating April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Hutchens said. A similar proclamation will be read at the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, she said.

The North Coast Rape Crisis Team has operated in Humboldt County since the 1970s and in Del Norte County since the early to mid-1980s, Hutchens said. The organization has operated under a Community Development Block Grant with Crescent City for about four years, she said.

The organization provides outreach, education and intervention services around any type of sexualized violence, Hutchens said.

“It could be rape, it could be stalking, human trafficking, sexualized violence within domestic violence,” she said. “We want to support the people who are supporting the survivors, and some of the things we do is we have a 24-hour hotline that’s open to anybody in the community. You don’t necessarily have to be a survivor, but let’s say you have questions, people can call our hotline.”

The CDBG funds that come to the city and are then allocated to the North Coast Rape Crisis Team pay for emergency housing for survivors looking for a safer situation, Hutchens said.

“We contract with some hotels in the community to put survivors in a more safe and stable situation,” she said.

A final event that will be held in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month is Jeans for Justice Day on April 28. Held the 4th Wednesday in April since 1999, Jeans for Justice commemorates an Italian High Court decision that overturned a rape conviction on the grounds that the victim was wearing jeans “and it was common knowledge that jeans cannot be removed if the victim is struggling with all her might,” Hutchens said.

“It sparked a worldwide outcry and became an international symbol of the injustices experienced by survivors of sexual assault,” she said. “Every year our agency encourages folks to wear jeans and denim in solidarity with survivors. We have buttons and stickers if people would like (one) they can give our office a call.”

To reach the North Coast Rape Crisis Team, call (707) 465-6961. The 24-hour hotline is (707) 465-2851.

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