Reach Out Editions, a new app to further the awareness of sexual assaults on college campuses, is now active at Mississippi State University. 
Reach Out Editions educates students on the issues of sexual misconduct and sexual assault on their campus. It also provides support for survivors and others who are negatively affected by sexual assault. 
Jack Zandi, a partner with Capptivations, the creator of the app, said he wants students to benefit from the resources the app provides.
 “What we want students to take away from the app is that it provides resources, education and information, in an easy, intuitive way, that reduces the amount of inconveniences that a survivor would almost necessarily go through to get the help they deserve,” Zandi said. “We can increase the chance they get the help they deserve, and if they get the proper help, they might be more willing to report. If there is a higher chance they report, there is higher chance that the criminal will get caught. The more criminals that get caught, the fewer total assaults there will be.”  
Zandi said outreach is the key to the apps success. and that the app has been a positive influence on universities across the nation who use it.
“There are many ways for us to connect with schools, and likewise for schools to connect with us,” Zandi said. “While we reach out to many Title IX coordinators, we also are contacted by university staff members who’ve read about us in the news or have heard about us by word of mouth. Once we’re in touch, we set them up with an easy-to-use console, so that they are completely in control of the way the app works for their institution.” 
Zandi also said universities can customize the app, so they can make the app’s design most compatible with the way they intend to use it.
When asked about whether any particular case of sexual assault led to the creation of the app, Zandi said there was no specific case that led to the app’s creation.  However, Zandi said that when he and his Capptivation partners graduated from college in 2014, there were a large number of news reports covering the issue of sexual assault. 
One case Zandi did point out was the high profile sexual misconduct incident at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, which was covered in the Rolling Stone.  
“Unfortunately large swaths of that article were made up, which is a terrible thing because it was such a high profile case. Because the information was proven false, it certainly took away credibility from other survivors who wanted to report their assaults in the future,” Zandi said. “So the more and more we read about the epidemic, the more we started to understand how severe it was, and it compelled us to want to help such a large population of people.”
Although the app is geared toward college and university students, Zandi said college students are not the only crowd he wants to reach out to. 
 “One of our goals is to help bring more awareness and understanding to this epidemic, that is plaguing not only college campuses, but high school and middle schools as well,” Zandi said. “If more people are aware of warning signs of something bad about to happen at a party, for example, then there is a higher chance someone might step up and intervene in the situation.” 
Reach Out Editions is available on the iPhone App Store and Google Play.