PROSPER Program

Formerly known as the MAASIN Whistleblower Support Program, the MAASIN PROSPER program assists community members, ensembles, and other marching arts organizations with addressing and preventing misconduct to foster safe learning and working environments. PROSPER is made up of two teams who provide different types of assistance: Support and Education. Information on the teams, what they can help you with, how they work, and how to contact them can be found on this page. If you cannot find what you are looking for feel free to contact the PROSPER Program Coordinator at rand.clayton@maasin.net.

support team

The Support Team assists community members who wish to discuss harm they have experienced in the activity with knowledgeable and empathetic people who understand the marching arts. Harm could mean:

  • Experiences of sexual misconduct such as sexual harassment, sexual assault, grooming, sexual abuse, etc.

  • Experiences of bigotry such as racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, etc.

  • Experiences of physical abuse such as being physically assaulted in any way

  • Experiences of neglect such as being denied access to medical care, sleep, food, water, medication, etc.

  • Any other experience where your health, safety, or well-being was jeopardized by someone else

We can help you with:

  • Unpacking and processing your experience

  • Finding local or online resources that could assist you in your healing process such as free or sliding scale therapy, more information to help you understand your experience, etc.

  • Any part of the whistleblower reporting process such as finding how to report at a particular organization, drafting a report, or submitting a report on your behalf so you can remain anonymous but the organization can contact you through us for follow-up and further decision making. For more information on our whistleblower support assistance process, please continue scrolling.

You do not need to want to report your experience to receive support from us. If what you feel you need is not listed here, contact us and we will see what we can do for you. The best way to contact the Support Team is by email at support@maasin.net.

educational team

The Education Team provides guidance to individuals, ensembles, and organizations as they navigate best practices in providing safe and equitable learning and working environments. A safe and equitable learning and working environment strives to:

  • Remove barriers to entry for marginalized people

  • Meaningfully address sexual misconduct by centering survivors in the reporting process and decision making

  • Meet the needs of everyone so they have the resources they need to thrive

  • Meaningfully address bigotry by taking all forms of it seriously and understanding it is a form of violence that makes the environment unsafe for marginalized people

  • Engage in equitable hiring and staffing practices to build and retain a diverse team

We can help you with:

  • Consulting on a particular issue or the process of developing policies

  • Connecting you to reputable resources on topics you wish to learn about

  • Creating customized educational resources such as a workshop designed specially for your organization or ensemble and facilitated by us

All PROSPER Education Team assistance is available at sliding scale cost to be affordable for everyone. Please contact us to discuss your budget and we will make it work. The best way to contact the Education Team is by emailing the PROSPER Program Coordinator at rand.clayton@maasin.net. They can discuss options and assign the best suited Education Team Member to assist you.

Community Events

On top of private or individual assistance from either of our teams, both teams jointly hold a variety of events throughout the year. Select the type of event you are curious about to learn more. Events will vary in topic and may not be offered on a regular schedule. Workshops, town halls, and discussion circles are also not unique to PROSPER and other MAASIN committees will offer these styles of events on topics relevant to them. To stay updated on upcoming events and receive registration instructions, follow our social media accounts. If you have any questions about these events or ideas for events you would like to see, feel free to contact the PROSPER Coordinator.

  • The PROSPER program hosts workshops on a variety of topics that anyone in the community can attend for free. Workshops are usually 60-90 minutes in length and include an interactive segment as well as a question period.

    The #MeToo in Marching Arts workshop is offered three times a year in January, April, and September. Workshops in any other month of the year will rotate through topics based on which facilitators are available. Workshop offerings and registration instructions will be announced on social media prior to the event.

  • Town Halls are panel discussions where we invite experts on a topic to speak about it and share their perspectives. Town Halls are livestreamed to our YouTube channel and usually include time for viewers to ask questions. Town Halls do not require registration to attend and are recorded for everyone to view later on our YouTube channel. Town Hall topics will vary depending on current issues and panelist availability.

  • Discussion circles are when anyone in the community or a relevant demographic is invited to participate in group discussion to share their perspectives on a particular topic. Discussion circles have a MAASIN facilitator with discussion questions but these events are very informal . Everyone in attendance is encouraged to bring what they would like to discuss about the topic to the table. Discussion circles may or may not require registration depending on the topic.

  • Peer support groups will be an opportunity to connect with others who may have shared experiences to find mutual understanding and different perspectives on healing. These are peer support groups meaning while they will be facilitated by PROSPER team members with social work backgrounds, they are informal. The PROSPER team member facilitating the group is not to be considered your mental health service provider but simply another community member with the skillset to smoothly facilitate the group.

    Peer support groups will require registration. The groups offered and group schedule are currently TBD. Please refer back to this page in the future or check in on our social media regularly for updates and announcements regarding this programming.

A flowchart showing how the Support Team whistleblower support process works. When someone requests whistleblower support.

Our whistleblower support Process

We believe that everyone should always have full authority over their information and where it goes. This is why we take a reporter-centered approach. When community members reach out to us their case gets assigned to a Support Team member. That team member will meet with the community member to learn more and discuss options. Community members are always encouraged to choose which option feels best to them and their assigned team member will communicate with them every step of the way. We never take a step without the explicit permission of the reporter so this process may stall if we do not hear from them but can be picked back up at any time. We encourage everyone to make decisions that encourage their healing, even if that means choosing not to report at all. Reporters are free to withdraw from the process at any point.

 Frequently Asked Questions

  • No. There is some overlap between the teams because some people wanted to assist the community in both ways but they are two different teams. There are people on each team who are not on the other team.

  • You can contact the Support Team about any harmful experience related to safety and well-being. This includes experiences including but not limited to sexual misconduct, bigotry, abuse, and neglect. If you are unsure whether your experience “counts” or was “bad enough” to receive our support, contact us anyway. You won’t know if you don’t ask and it’s better you ask in case we can help.

  • The PROSPER Coordinator Rand Clayton holds a master’s degree in social work (MSW) with professional experience as a queer community center coordinator, accessibility programming coordinator, and sexual assault counsellor. They are currently studying marching arts from a social work perspective for their PhD. They oversee all our operations to the best of their professional and personal ability.

    Our Support Team members are also adult professionals working as social workers, teachers, and in other fields such as law and public relations. That being said, we firmly believe that you do not have to be a professional to compassionately support community members with painful experiences. The committee welcomes applicants with lived experience and/or passion for activism when we have open seats. All applicants submit a written application and are interviewed to assess their understanding of sexual violence, oppression, abuse, and neglect. We do not onboard anyone we are not 100% confident in.

  • Yes and no. You could reach out to us with an anonymous email or through DMs but that makes it harder for us to follow-up with you. Because we are reporter-centered, we need your explicit approval to move forward in the reporting process. This cannot happen if we cannot reach you. Most prefer to operate under the assumption of confidentiality. That means your identity is kept between us and we help mediate between you and the organization you’re reporting to. The identities of confidential reporters are never revealed without their explicit permission. For the smoothest possible process, we recommend confidential reporting over anonymous reporting.

  • A community safety notice is something we issue on our website and social media when we have serious concerns about safety because a reported situation was left completely unaddressed. They are rare and only issued if we could not recommend that people work with an organization or person in good faith. We take no joy in having to publicly address safety concerns but we feel everyone has the right to make a fully informed decision about where to march or staff that lines up with their values. People deserve to know if an organization does not take equity & safety seriously to take their own needs into consideration.

  • To our knowledge, we are the first and only organization to offer assistance with the whistleblower reporting process. Marching arts is very decentralized and this process can be scary and confusing because it is different for every organization. Having our assistance available has empowered community members to see the reporting process through when they could not have before. Even if someone does not seek support from us, many community members have shared they felt more confident reporting because they knew they could come to us at any point if they needed help. By empowering reporters, organizations are made aware of issues and can make changes critical to their success.

    We support community members AND organizations in addressing misconduct because we want the activity to survive. We believe most organizations are trying their best with what they have but the decentralized nature of the activity means some have far less resources than others. We are happy to help bridge that gap. Marching arts needs to be held to the same safety standards as other youth activities so students, staff, and organizations can thrive in the future.

  • Yes. We will not give you details regarding reports submitted by others but are happy to give you our honest opinions based on the information we have. Every organization has pros and cons. What is important is finding a good fit based on your needs.