CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center was established 50 years ago to provide critical services for sexual assault survivors. Today, it is one of the nation's largest independent centers of its kind.
CEO Sondra Miller witnessed much of that growth in her 15 years since she started working at the CRCC, first as education, outreach, and community partnerships director. In 2013, she rose to the role of president and CEO, but she believes now is the right time for change.
"I feel immense pride for what we've been able to accomplish and what we've been able to do for the community," she says. "I also feel like this is a little bit of a relay. It's time to pass the baton to someone else."
She leaves the role on this, the last day of May, with a sense of pride and accomplishment.
"It's been an incredible 15-year journey."
We sat down with Miller in her final week as CEO. She recalls the feeling that led her to this calling.
"How did I end up here? I started my career in public relations, and I had a very altruistic voice in my head that said, 'If you're going to work this hard in the world, it needs to mean something,' and that was the voice that I followed in to nonprofit."
When Miller first stepped into the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, it only had 16 employees. The hotline rang steadily with crisis calls, but there weren't enough counselors to help.
"So unfortunately, survivors would call in and ask to schedule an appointment and we would have to put them on a waiting list," Miller recalled. "And we all felt like this is not how a crisis center should be."
Demand, Miller says, was five time what the Center could handle. And even as it started to grow, a few major news events really broke the stigma and silence.
"Moments like the Miracle in Cleveland, or when Cleveland was in the international spotlight because of the Anthony Sowell case," she explained. "There were a few things that happened in a short sequence of time that really put Cleveland on the map."
That included tackling the massive backlog of older, untested rape kits.
"Police departments across the country had untested sexual assault kits in their warehouses — tens of thousands of them, hundreds of thousands across the country — and a lot of communities just chose to kind of look the other way," Miller said. "Cleveland and Cuyahoga County were different. We had public officials that really had the resources to get put behind open cases that survivors thought had long been forgotten about."
Then in 2017, another news event brought change, and asimple hashtag trending on social media opened the flood gates: #MeToo
"It was the breaking of the MeToo movement that dramatically transformed how people and survivors think about and talk about sexual violence," Miller stated.
At this point, Miller says phones started ringing off the hook and never stopped. The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center opened more offices, and she recalls a voicemail she got in the middle of the night.
"She left me a message that says, 'I'm 84. This happened to me when I was 10 years old. There was no one to call. There was no one to get help. I'm so glad you're here for the rest of the community.'"
Miller says some of her favorite memories are those she made in her final week in her role.
"Some of my favorite moments here in the last couple of weeks are notes that I've received from survivors who had said, 'It's because I met you at this event. You gave me the courage to come forward. You know, my life is different now because of Cleveland Rape Crisis Center,'" she said. "When we talk about big news stories and we talk about the number of hotline calls going up and how many people get help, we're talking about really big numbers. But the magic of Cleveland Rape Crisis Center is really the impact we have on one survivor who decides, 'Today is today's the day I'm going to get some help.'"
Since taking over as CEO in 2013, Miller was integral in expanding the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center to four counties, helping roughly 10,000 people each year get the counseling they needed.
"It is tough work," she admitted. "It's tough work for every single person who works at Cleveland Rape Crisis Center."
As Miller "passes the baton," she knows the strides she made weren't easy, but is confident the talented, confident team in place will continue to make Northeast Ohio a better place.
"They're going to have new ideas, bigger ideas, take the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center to the next level," she said. "And the time is just right, the season is just right, for that change to happen."
A national search is underway to secure Miller's successor. She will remain on in an advisory role to help with the transition.
Her immediate plans include summer travel with family. After that, she will think about her next move.
"It's hard for me to think of a mission that I love more than Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, but there are so many good causes in Northeast Ohio, so many wonderful organizations, and I'll figure out a way to find my next landing spot."
Cleveland Rape Crisis Center support and hotline: Call/text (216) 619-6192 or (440) 423-2020
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