Trust and Clarity for Sexual Assault Victims

Tackles Sexual Assault Reporting in the Ranks 

Some student teams in H4D build tech. Others build culture. For this University of Chicago, the mission was clear: dismantle the fear-based systems that prevent service members from reporting sexual assault and harassment.

Their work struck a nerve. Not because the issue was new—but because their solution demanded that leadership listen differently.

What Was at Stake 

Despite years of reform and awareness campaigns, the U.S. military still faces a staggering number of unreported sexual assaults. Survivors fear retaliation, lack of confidentiality, and broken command chains. For the Army units that sponsored this challenge, the real risk wasn’t bad press—it was degraded trust, unit cohesion, and mission readiness.

Team Clear Without Fear didn’t aim to fix the entire system. They focused on what they could control: the first five minutes of disclosure.

Redesigning Trust 

The team conducted over 90 interviews, from survivors and SARC officers to commanders and military legal staff. With CMP’s Innovation Fund support, they ran behavioral pilots simulating different reporting scenarios to understand which environments fostered safe, early disclosure.

Their key insight: most tools were either too impersonal (anonymous hotlines) or too confrontational (formal reporting chains). What was missing was a low-friction, guided decision support tool that gave survivors clarity without pressure.

Their prototype: a mobile-first, encrypted interface that allows service members to understand their options, log incidents confidentially, and get guidance on next steps without triggering command notification.

Operators of Another Kind 

• Naomi Kim drove UX and trauma-informed design, ensuring the interface honored survivor autonomy. 

• Aaron Littlefield, a policy analyst and veteran, worked to map DoD regulation pathways and identify legal barriers to tool deployment. 

• Lisa Ramirez handled stakeholder interviews and pilot coordination, bringing personal experience and relentless empathy to every design sprint.

Beyond the Tool: A New Command Conversation 

The team’s final briefing was presented to the Army Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) office and received high praise for its practical implementation roadmap and clear-eyed approach to command realities.

Their prototype is currently under ethical review for further development, with several commands expressing interest in adapting it for pre-deployment environments.

Advice to Future Students 

“Don’t assume the institution knows what it needs,” Aaron said. “Sometimes the clearest signal comes from the silence.”