Bemidji Declares April Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Plans Take Back the Night Event

Thirty-one of Beltrami County's 36 reported rape cases from 2025 carry no clearance, according to Minnesota Crime Data Explorer figures cited alongside the city's newly issued Sexual Assault Awareness Month proclamation. For survivors who need help today, Support Within Reach at 1510 Bemidji Ave. N answers a 24-hour crisis line at 218-444-9524.

The Bemidji City Council declared April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and April 23 as "Take Back the Night" at its April 6 meeting, lending formal backing to a free community event already planned for that date at Rail River Folk School, 303 Railroad St. SW, from 5 to 8 p.m.

Valahlena Steeprock of MMIW 218 will headline as guest speaker. Steeprock, a Bemidji-area organizer whose advocacy deepened after her cousin Nevaeh Kingbird's disappearance in 2021, grounds the conversation between sexual violence and the missing and murdered Indigenous relatives crisis in personal terms. The evening's program also includes a solidarity walk, survivor speak-out, candlelight vigil with honor song, and hands-on activities: a potted-plant project and a jewelry-making station. Resource tables will be staffed throughout. There is no admission charge.

Support Within Reach, which co-organized the event alongside Bemidji State University and BSU's It's On Us student group, offers services that operate year-round regardless of whether a survivor plans to report. Confidential options include crisis counseling, legal advocacy to file restraining orders or orders for protection, and medical accompaniment through its Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program to emergency room exams. After-hours callers to 218-444-9524 are routed to an answering service; a trained advocate returns the call. The toll-free number is 1-800-708-2727.

If someone discloses an assault to you, Support Within Reach recommends listening without pressing for details, saying clearly that you believe them, and sharing the crisis line number rather than contacting authorities on their behalf. The survivor speak-out at the April 23 event is open to anyone who wishes to share.

Minnesota recorded 1,838 reported rapes statewide in 2025, the majority also lacking clearances. Organizers describe the April 23 gathering as a space to break isolation and connect community members to advocacy and reporting options well before, or entirely outside of, a formal criminal proceeding.

At the same April 6 session, City Clerk Michelle Miller swore in Bemidji Police Department reserve officers Rylie Rockensock, Peter Mack, and Dylan Schefelbine.