Educating Youth About Dating Violence
Our primary focus at this point is Education.
1) Education of the prevalence of abuse amongst teen relationships. Our primary demographic is 13-19 but acknowledge and include young adults to the age of 23.
2) Educating the Education and Government sectors of the need for a legislative approach to prevention and education of Teen Dating Violence.
3) Educating our core demographic and their families and friends about "The Ten Warning Signs of an Abusive Relationship" as well as steps to extricate themselves from an abusive relationship.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Focus of activity
Education
Year the initiative began
2006
Position your initiative on the mosaic of solutions
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Aggressive Models Of Masculinity
Which of the insights is the primary focus of your work?
Create Paths to Prevention or Remediation
If you believe some other barrier or insight should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
For my group I feel that our greatest barrier is the information that has not been disseminated to our young people, especially through the schools. Many of our youth do not have a "model relationship" to which they can compare their own relationships. Without this knowledge they are unaware if bullying behavior is acceptable. They do not realize that being removed from their social and familial circles by their partner is domineering and potentially dangerous behavior. I've chosen "Aggressive Models of Masculinity" but feel that is not accurate. While this is an issue our group has worked to avoid pronouns and accepts that abuse can be male > female, female > male, male > male and female > female.
Lack of dissemination of information & discourse would be more appropriate for my group.
Name Your Project
Educating Youth About Dating Violence
Describe Your Idea
Our primary focus at this point is Education.
1) Education of the prevalence of abuse amongst teen relationships. Our primary demographic is 13-19 but acknowledge and include young adults to the age of 23.
2) Educating the Education and Government sectors of the need for a legislative approach to prevention and education of Teen Dating Violence.
3) Educating our core demographic and their families and friends about "The Ten Warning Signs of an Abusive Relationship" as well as steps to extricate themselves from an abusive relationship.
Innovation
Description of Initiative
Our primary focus at this point is Education.
1) Education of the prevalence of abuse amongst teen relationships. Our primary demographic is 13-19 but acknowledge and include young adults to the age of 23.
2) Educating the Education and Government sectors of the need for a legislative approach to prevention and education of Teen Dating Violence.
3) Educating our core demographic and their families and friends about "The Ten Warning Signs of an Abusive Relationship" as well as steps to extricate themselves from an abusive relationship.
Innovation
Our primary tool is our Educational Card.
The card is the size and quality of a traditional credit card. On the front of the card is "The Ten Warning Signs of an Abusive Relationship" and on the back is a list of steps to prepare oneself in the event that help is needed. By partnering with The National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline we've been able to include a toll-free number that is staffed 24 hours a day.
The card was designed like a credit card for a couple of reasons.
1) The quality of the card allows it to be transferred from pocket to purse to wallet to bookmark, etc. These are cards that are designed to be used. To be shared. To touch many hands and minds.
2) The size and feel of the card allows it to be discretely placed in a wallet, blending with other cards; school ID cards, library cards, debit cards, etc. If a potential victim of dating abuse has their wallet rifled through it will not draw the same attention as a tri-fold brochure.
Delivery Model
As a very small group we are quite cost-conscious and work to keep our postage costs low. Our primary means of distribution is through a select group of distribution contacts. Our goal is to send 500-1000 cards to distribution contacts and allow them to then distribute the cards through their existing delivery channels.
Current distribution contacts include, non-profit groups, state government groups, school districts and community-based groups.
We are always looking for new distribution contacts!
Key Operational Partnerships
The National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline has been very helpful in allowing us to distribute their toll-free number that is available 24 hours a day for young people in need of assistance and information.
Our distribution contacts have also been very helpful in lowering our mailing costs.
Impact
Financial Model
Our cards are free. If we receive a request for any number of cards we will send them free of charge. We do focus on groups that can utilize at least 500 cards as that helps us keep our mailing costs down. Of course we are more than happy to accept any online donations to defray our expenses.
What percentage, if any, of the total operating costs does earned income (from products, services, or other fees) represent?
5
How is the initiative financed? Is it financially self-sustainable or profitable? How much do beneficiaries contribute?
Our first year of funding has been almost 100% from donations. We have recently started selling items with our logo on them. Additionally we are having our first fundraiser on April 21, 2007.
As we continue to grow we expect that fundraising will become a larger segment of our budget. Eventually we will be applying for grants to help fund larger projects that are planned.
Effectiveness
It is difficult to quantify the effectiveness. I can say that we have reached many people and have received a great deal of positive feedback. Much of the work that we have to do is still before us.
We have worked with the Texas Council on Family Violence to enter a bill requiring all school districts to formulate policies regarding Teen Dating Violence. Our group presented testimony to the Texas Legislature in support of this bill. Our Educational Cards will be distributed along with other collateral pieces in support of these policies if they are passed into law.
How many people have benefited from your program over the last year? Which element of the program proved itself most effective?
We were formed last year and spent some time creating the organization and receiving our non-profit status from the IRS.
Our pilot program with the Educational Cards was with 1,000 cards. These cards were distributed at the Texas Psychological Association's convention to the attendees. Additionally they were distributed to other non-profit groups, school counselors, medical offices and law enforcement.
Our most recent shipment is of 10,000 cards. They are in the process of being distributed to our distribution contacts.
Scaling up Strategy
1) Education
2) Legislation
3) Activism
We are still in the Education Phase of our group and are focusing on educating others about:
1) The prevalence of dating abuse amongst teenagers. Studies show that between 15 - 35% of teens have been in an abusive relationship. Parents, educators and legislators need to know this.
2) The warning signs of an abusive relationship. Many teens are in their first "relationship" and have very little experience to draw upon when deciding if certain behavior is acceptable. Teens and their loved ones need to know about the warning signs of an abusive relationship.
As this information becomes more commonplace then we can focus more on Legislation.
1) We are currently working to have legislation entered in Texas regarding Teen Dating Violence policies in school districts.
2) Once this is accomplished we will be working to have the same legislation entered in Georgia.
3) At that point we are planning to start a Federal push for nationwide legislation.
Once our legislative efforts have been successful we will focus on more proactive activism.
1) Creating a media push through viral campaigns that satirizes cultural acceptance of abuse.
2) Creating a national database of convicted felons, sexual predators and abusers that will be accessible online at no cost.
Stage of the Initiative
0
Origin of the Initiative
From our website:
My daughter, Jennifer Crecente died the day after Valentine's Day 2006.
She didn't die in a car accident or from a childhood disease.
She was murdered by a classmate.
Somebody that she'd grown to know, trust and eventually date. She was murdered by somebody that had problems. Problems that at the invincible age of 18 Jennifer thought that she could overcome.
Don't you remember? In high schoool we are immortal.
But for Jennifer Crecente and those that love her we know all too well how very painfully mortal we are. Problems don't disappear during the commercial break. Abuse isn't a "very special episode" of our favorite television show.
Good, decent people that want to help out a friend are sometimes murdered in cold blood. And the bogeyman isn't always under the bed.
Sometimes he's the kid that lives down the street.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How did you hear about this contest and what is your main incentive to participate?
Tyler Ahn from Ashoka contacted me via email. I look forward to every opportunity to spread the word of what our group is doing.
Main Obstacles to Scaling Up
We are currently an organization of two.
1) I'm the director.
2) My mother is the sole member of our advisory board. She is also a psychologist and has wonderful contacts.
It's difficult to say what our obstacles are because we're a very young organization. Having volunteers that have worked on comparable programs before would be helpful. And of course funding is always a great help.
Main Financial Challenges
While we are in our current stage (Education) our financial challenges are manageable. We've been able to successfully receive sufficient donations for the cost of our program.
Once we get to the Activism stage then funding will be critical. I plan that the next two years will be critical in working to the level of funding that I believe will be needed - between $100,000 and $150,000. It will be very helpful to find somebody with experience in writing requests for grants. I know that what we can do will affect profound change but do not have the expertise to get the necessary funds.
Main Partnership Challenges
Identification of partners is definitely our largest issue with partnerships. We've been very fortunate in that many of the groups that we are working with have found us.
I'm grateful to the Internet and the ease at which your message can be spread. I spend at least ten hours a week writing comments to news articles, updating information on MySpace, writing blogs, updating and Search Engine Optimizing our websites. The word must be spreading because somebody at your organization found out about us!
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