About RACES

In the early 1970s, women in Champaign-Urbana formed a feminist coalition called Women Against Rape. They founded the Rape Crisis Center – a resource for women who had been raped to get help, and receive counseling – and had set up a 24-hour hotline by February 1974.

These women were active in many aspects of the feminist movement: promoting women’s right to control their bodies, equal pay for equal work, and equal treatment and access in education and the professions. Rape Advocacy, Counseling, & Education Services is one fruit their amazing work, the daughter of that original Rape Crisis Center.

Since becoming a stand-alone rape crisis center in September 2009, our professional staff and trained volunteers

• Answered more than 1200 calls to our 24-hour rape crisis hotline;
• Provided free counseling, medical and legal advocacy to 680 individuals;
• Educated more than 103,000 students through sexual violence prevention and personal empowerment programs in elementary, middle, and high schools throughout Champaign, Douglas, Ford, and Piatt counties; and
• Trained 3,000+ allied professionals in sexual violence/trauma-informed theory and practice.