Laura Luciano - Associate Director
856-225-2326
Laura Luciano (she/her/hers) has been working in the anti-violence against women field for close to 20 years. She became a passionate activist in the anti-sexual violence movement as an undergraduate student at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She propelled that passion into education and completed an M.A. in Counseling from The College of New Jersey.
In 2001, she combined her passion for the anti-sexual violence movement with her love for working with traditional college aged students and came home to Rutgers to work at the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance on the New Brunswick Campus.
In October 2017, she became the Associate Director for the VPVA Office on the Camden Campus. She provides counseling, advocacy and crisis intervention to crime victims- primarily survivors of sexual and dating violence and victims of stalking. She also coordinates the offices awareness and education programs and works on their primary prevention strategies
Her area of expertise is working with adult and adolescent survivors of sexual assault and bystander intervention as primary prevention.
Laura has created numerous continuing education courses for the Rutgers School of Social Work Continuing Education Program and is a part time lecturer in the Social Work Department. She is a former Trustee (Chair) of the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault and is an appointed member of the New Jersey Governor’s Advisory Council Against Sexual Violence. She worked as part of a legislative team to successfully draft and advocate for the passing of the New Jersey Sexual Assault Survivors Protection Act of 2015 which provides the opportunity for victims of sexual assault to obtain civil restraining orders against their perpetrators. In 2011, she received the Excellence in Advocacy award from the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Laura is committed to helping to create a world without violence.
Olivia Rojas, MS, MSW - Program Coordinator
Olivia Rojas (she/her/hers) is a victim advocate with over eight years of specialized experience in cross-systems advocacy, capacity building, and training. She brings an understanding of the impact of policies and protocol on the lives of survivors engaging with multiple systems, the unique challenges various systems experience in working with survivors, and a creative and collaborative approach to addressing the needs of survivors.
As an advocate, Olivia has worked to educated system partners on power-based violence and develop their ability to effectively respond to survivors. Olivia's personal experience with sexual and dating violence taught her the many ways systems designed to help often fail to do so, and she has dedicated her career to strengthening the capacity of systems to support all survivors. Olivia centers her work on the ways in which oppressioon and violence intersect, advocating for the liberation and healing of all communities.
Oliiva has a Bachelor of arts in Criminal Justice and a Master's in Organizational Leadership from Our Lady of the Lake Unviersity in San Antonio, Texas. She also holds a Master's in Social Work from Boston University. Olivia has worked with the San Antonio Police Department supporting law enforcement responses to intimate partner violence, the US Army a Torii Station, Okinawa in coordinating installation responses to survivors, with the New Jersey Department of Child Protection and Permanency in strengthening child welfare's capacity to support child and adult victims of intimate parter violence and promote safe parenting among people who cause harm.
Olivia has worked with the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Asault where she conducted the first statewide audit of rape crisis center hotlines, developed the 40-hour Confidential Sexual Violence Advocate curriculum, and continually advocated for the needs of Black and Indigenous women along with Women of Color impacted by sexual violence. Olivia is a nationally recognized trainer and expert on issues of intimate partner violence and sexual violence and has presented at the National Sexual Assault Conference, consulted with Futures Without Violence, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Olivia was awarded the Shining Star Award by Healing Wounds in New Jersey in 2019, an award that recognizes survivors of sexual violence who have made positive impacts in their community,