Featured Partner
Three Questions with…
This new feature on teenDVmonth.org invites service providers around the country to share the work they are doing to prevent dating violence in their community. We thank our wonderful collaborators at Start Strong Boston for serving as the first interview of 2012!
1. Tell us a little more about your initiative.
The Start Strong Initiative aims to stop teen dating abuse before it starts by using older teens to educate pre-teens. The older teens, our Peer Leaders, undergo six weeks of training during the summer on healthy relationships, dating violence, and healthy break-ups. Once school starts, our Peer Leaders educate and engage pre teens in various capacities. They enter community centers, schools, and youth serving agencies where they run fun and engaging workshops for pre-teens, teens, and adults. Throughout the year our Peer Leaders also create diverse events to raise awareness. This year we have our second annual Fashion Show, which not only illustrates the latest trends and dance moves, but acknowledges the beauty of different relationships. With help from the Boston Public Health Commission, Start Strong creates PSA’s and actively reaches out to various media outlets to spread awareness on teen dating violence. Lastly, our Peer Leaders continue to build upon their training from the summer. They collaborate with local youth work agencies, participate in focus groups for local Universities, and attend an array of educational workshops.
2. What are you doing for 2012 TDVAM?
This year for Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month Start Strong is orchestrating four main events in addition to speaking and collaborating with the Air Force.
Speak Up Summit: Facilitated by our Peer Leaders, teens from local community centers, come to share their relationship stories. Using a multi genre approach, pre-teens feel they are being heard and helped as they begin the relationship journey.
Safe Love: A day of poetry, rhyming and artistic expression themed around healthy relationships.
Clothesline: The Clothesline Project is National movement which empowers people from all walks of life to speak out against sexual violence. Plain t-shirts and fabric markers are provided to our young people and they create positive messages about relationships and ending violence. Later, their shirts are displayed at events which promote healthy relationships and work to end violence.
Day of Action: Start Strong is orchestrating a flashmob to engage and elicit excitement towards the healthy relationship movement! Dancing to healthy songs, our teens have choreographed a brilliant routine to captivate passersby’s and will then pass out statistics regarding teen dating violence.
Air Force: One of our Peer Leaders will be a part of a panel discussing the importance of healthy relationships to cadets and their children.
3. Can you share an inspiring story that illustrates why "we do the work we do..."?
The Break Up Summit is an event created by Start Strong to encourage healthy ways to break up with a partner. At this Summit, hundreds of teens arrive along with their adult leaders. It’s an all day event, where the morning focuses on Break Up 101 advice and the afternoon tailors their workshops to meet the pressing needs of teens breaking up in the 21st Century. “Face it Don’t Facebook It” Is one of the buttons that is handed out during the Summit. The button reminds teens to communicate, in person, with their partner. Not to use media as a medium.
Below is a link to a clip from the CBS Morning Show where they discuss the role of technology in breaking up and how it can be more hurtful than helpful.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/01/earlyshow/living/parenting/main20086262.shtml
To learn more about the tools and resources offered by Start Strong Boston, visit www.startstrongteens.org/communities/boston
