Comment from Martin, Candace

CDC’s proposed revision of the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program information collection (OMB Control No. 0920‑1431) can be a positive improvement for community education. However, I do not support all the revisions of the program. The OMB is requesting three years to collect data to see how organizations are implementing sexual assault prevention programs and the hand they have in decreasing assault rates (Zirger, 2026). I personally think that is a good program in hopes to decrease the sexual assault rates with more education. However, I am concerned about how and what data would be collected by the CDC. Would this database to collect data possibly be a similar database used to collect information on sexual assault victims? If so, I would strongly suggest that another method is used to decrease the chance of a data breach which could lead to the exposure of victim’s personal data. I am also concerned that when data is tracked that three years may not be enough time to see if the RPE program is continuing to be effective. Sexual assault is frequently underreported. I think at least five years or more would show more or a reliable trend to show if preventative programs are assisting with the decrease in sexual assault cases. Overall, I think this is a good idea, but unfortunately, I need to oppose the idea until more details are specified of how the data will be collected and ensure that there would be little to no chance of a breach of rape victim’s information. Also increasing the timeline so there is a greater chance of collecting enough data to see if the RPE is effective.