About our services, location, and more

Nope! We serve anyone impacted by sexual violence in eight eastern Iowa counties: Cedar, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Johnson, Lee, Washington, and Van Buren. The University of Iowa is one community we serve including students, faculty and staff. We also serve all other higher education and K-12 academic communities in our service area. 

Yes! We serve people of all genders.

Our office building is in Iowa City. We serve and travel to eight counties in eastern Iowa: Cedar, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Johnson, Lee, Washington, and Van Buren. 

Our services are free. We do not ask for insurance or any form of payment.

Confidentiality is very important to us. Everything we discuss is confidential within the agency with the exception of high-risk suicidal intent or high-risk intent of committing violence against another.

Most advocates are not mandatory reporters. However, some of our staff have specific licensure that requires them to be a mandatory reporter. RVAP staff who are mandatory reporters will inform you before giving you counseling. If you prefer to speak with a staff member that is not a mandatory reporter, that option is available to you. In the event that you do choose to disclose certain types of information to a staff member that is a mandatory reporter, confidentiality will be broken if their licensure requires mandatory reporting. If that is the case, you would be made aware immediately.

Otherwise, we cannot speak to anyone including your friends, family, employer, community, law enforcement or other system without your explicit consent. 

Yes. We serve anyone directly or indirectly impacted by sexual violence including a survivor's loved ones. Rape is one form of sexual violence. Sexual violence is any sexual act committed against someone without that person’s freely given consent. This includes but is not limited to rape, sexual assault, stalking, harassment, sexual exploitation, etc.

Consent should be affirmatively communicated through verbal or non-verbal language. Consent cannot be obtained through coercion, manipulation, force or while under the influence of any drug(s) including alcohol. For a visual explanation of what consent is watch this video about tea and consent.

We can help in many ways depending upon your needs. We offer counseling, therapy, support groups and 24-hour crisis lines. We answer questions, provide information, referrals and options. We provide advocacy services which means we can help you navigate various systems, work with third parties and accompany you throughout these interactions. Check out the Get Help section on our website to learn more.

Additionally, we offer prevention education programs that focus on healthy relationships, consent, bystander intervention, etc. Learn more here.

Transition of RVAP to DVIP

Organizationally, yes. Historically, RVAP operated as a campus-community partnership, primarily anchored in the community. Over time, it became more tightly integrated with the university, while also providing services to Johnson, Cedar, and Iowa counties. More recently, RVAP provided services not only to the university, but also to an eight-county region in southeast Iowa. The new organization re-positions RVAP to be more community oriented alongside DVIP, which provides domestic violence services in the same eight counties It’s important to note that from July 2023 to March 2024, 12% of direct services and 7% of crisis calls were from university-affiliated people.

While RVAP will no longer be part of the University of Iowa organization after Sept. 30, we are committed to ensuring that every person who is part of our university community will still have access to its important services.

After Sept. 30, the university will continue to provide campus space for university prevention and advocacy services, so our community members continue to have convenient access to them.

We will continue to connect anyone needing assistance with the RVAP team, which remains accessible and committed to providing resources and assistance until Sept. 30. 

If you or someone you know needs support, please contact RVAP’s help line at 800-228-1625.

After Sept. 30, members of the University of Iowa community – including students, faculty, and staff – will still have access to services historically provided by RVAP.

The university will provide financial support to DVIP/RVAP for the continuation of these services. Student Government has noted it plans to continue to provide its allocation to support RVAP from the Student Activity fee. The university also will provide space on campus for DVIP/RVAP to offer services to members of our community. We are collaborating with shared governance leadership to ensure that advocacy service staff members remain available in spaces that are accessible and welcoming to faculty, staff, and students.

Additionally, the transition will not affect the role of advocates in the Policy on Sexual Harassment and Sexual Misconduct. Our commitment to prevention efforts outlined in the university’s Anti-Violence Plan will continue through a collaboration between the Women’s Resource and Action Center (WRAC) and DVIP/RVAP. 

No. In addition to DVIP’s responsibilities to domestic violence survivors, DVIP will assume responsibility for all rape crisis services currently administered by RVAP by Sept. 30. 

These services include:

The challenges faced by RVAP as a part of the university have been a recurring topic of discussion throughout its history. The challenges became even more apparent when its area expanded to cover eight counties in 2014. The 2022 RVAP Program Review, conducted by reviewers selected by the RVAP leadership team, specifically notes that the UI name does not necessarily garner trust in the outlying counties and that RVAP’s positioning in the university adds complexity to achieving its mission.   

The majority of RVAP clients do not report affiliation with the University of Iowa. This transition enables RVAP to align with an agency doing work in the same counties, with a strong and proven structure, fewer bureaucratic barriers, and lower costs assessed to RVAP, meaning more of the money RVAP raises and receives goes directly to survivor services.

DVIP plans to hire eight to twelve new staff members to assist with RVAP’s caseload. We have provided DVIP with position descriptions of current RVAP jobs. DVIP is a separate organization with their own hiring practices. Current RVAP staff have been and will continue to be encouraged to apply.

The Domestic Violence Intervention Program, based in Iowa City, supports survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and human trafficking.  More information about the organization can be found on its website.

DVIP and RVAP have partnered on campus and in the community for nearly 40 years.

Most of the currently held grants will be complete with funds expended by Sept. 30. If there are remaining grant funds, we will work with individual grantors and the Division of Sponsored Programs to determine their use or return.

Some grants from the State of Iowa Attorney General’s office are currently available to agencies wishing to apply for them. DVIP intends to apply to the grants on behalf of the new organization (DVIP/RVAP).

The RVAP name will continue to be used for at least 18-24 months, to ensure that it is clear the program and services are still available. After that time, a community-engaged process will be used by DVIP/RVAP to determine program names moving forward.