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Jennifer Rauhouse, founder and executive director of Peer Solutions, began standing against sexual, relationship and family violence in 1981.
She received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology of Law and Speech Communication from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and a teacher certification from Arizona State University. Rauhouse later worked as a volunteer coordinator at the Center Against Sexual Abuse (now the Casa Center for Positive Social Change) and as a teacher at the Phoenix Union High School District.
Peer Solutions supports investing in youth to elevate communities and reaches out to Phoenix and Tempe schools.
Rauhouse, who experienced violence and abuse firsthand as a child, found that striving to prevent violence was a cause that few people were addressing. Her passion made her devoted to addressing the issue with Peer Solutions.
A national study by Child Trends reflected that adverse childhood experiences are “potentially traumatic events that can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being.”
Those experiences can include parental divorce, the incarceration of a parent or guardian or physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Arizona largely exceeds the national rate of children experiencing two or more of these at 44.4 percent, where the national average stands at 30.5 percent.
Shana Tobkin, STAND & SERVE program coordinator at Peer Solutions, said the program focuses on preventing violence by instilling positive norms, working on community projects and volunteering.
STAND & SERVE is a nationally recognized youth development practice in more than a dozen states. Rauhouse’s goal has been to use safety, equality and respect to combat sexual violence.
“(Jen) has taught me that you can’t just treat those that have experienced harm individually,” said Tobkin. “It has to be a collective effort for and by everyone in the community.”
Peer Solutions’ Guts to be Good initiative encourages five main ideas: the guts to be respectful, courteous, speak up, be honest and lend a hand.
Rauhouse has helped spread these messages during STAND & SERVE’s biannual days spent at the Arizona State Capitol.
“The only thing that keeps me really grounded in life is watching these young people help each other,” Rauhouse said.
Jacob Chevalier, development director of Peer Solutions, has been working with STAND & SERVE alongside Rauhouse for the past seven years as a student and peer educator.
“If you want to invest resources adequately and effectively, then you have to invest them in the youth who are going to grow up to own the world rather than invest them in services that put a Band-Aid on the problem,” Chevalier said.
Contact the author at Brianna.Bradley@asu.edu
Contact the columnist at Holly.Bernstein@asu.edu
