For over five decades, BRAVE Bay Area has been the East Bay’s leading resource for survivors of sexual assault.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of sexual violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673.
Founded in 1971, Bay Area Women Against Rape, or BAWAR, was the nation’s first rape crisis center. For many years, the organization has operated a bilingual hotline and a sexual assault response team, whose members accompany people who have been sexually assaulted when they arrive at Highland Hospital for a sexual assault evidence examination, when they report the assault to the police, or when they go to court to testify against their abuser. The $1.7 million nonprofit — which rebranded as BRAVE just last year — also trains advocates, health care professionals, police officers, attorneys, and others who work directly with survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence.
In July 2020, the organization announced that its executive director, Sarai Crain, was leaving her leadership role after 15 years with the organization to join the city of Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention. Leah Kimble-Price, a licensed marriage and family therapist and longtime advocate for survivors of gender-based violence, was named interim executive director, a role that became permanent in January 2022.
At the time Kimble-Price joined BRAVE, the nonprofit was in a rebuilding phase, seeking to restore...
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