Hands Are Not for Hitting- Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness

Official Dosomething.org Project

Vital Stats

Cierra P

Rutland, VT

  • people helped2000
  • People Doing It 20

The Problem

Our project is designed to raise awareness and prevention of teen dating violence. We hope to make people more aware of this issue and to help potential victims prevent being a victim.This program also will show victims how to get support, treatment, and justice. We are based at Stafford Technical Center, a technical high school serving 7 public high schools and 2 private high schools in Rutland County, Vermont.We are also affiliated with the College of St. Joseph, a small college in Rutland, Vt. Rutland County, Vermont has about 60,000 people and, unfortunately has the highest rate of domestic violence in Vermont. Our rate of " Relief from Abuse" orders is 1.5 times the state average. Rutland County has been negatively impacted by the recent recession and has lost some of its major employers, resulting in increased depression and use of substances, both legal and illegal. These conditions often result in increased domestic abuse. Teen dating violence is directly related to domestic violence as people who see domestic violence at home are more likely to replicate this behavior in their own dating relationships.

Plan of Action

1. We have been trained in the issue of Domestic Violence and Teen Dating Violence by TJ Anderson, the Domestic Violence expert at the Vermont Police Academy. 2. I have been involved in attempting to bring about a mandatory school-based domestic violence required course in Vermont and on the national level. 3. I have been featured in the training video for Vermont police officers in the state-mandated domestic violence training. 4. We have begun researching and developing the PowerPoint presentation for the Stafford Technical Center assembly. 5. We have received approval for the project from Mr. Lyle Jepson, the Director of Stafford Technical Center. 6. We have been granted approval to do this project at the College of St. Joseph by Mark Gagnon, the college's director of counseling. 7. We have a committment from Jeff Fowler, the Carpentry instructor at Stafford Technical Center, that he and his students will make the plywood cutouts. 8. We have a committment from our school and a private donor to provide the $250 in matching funds to pay for the plywood, paint, markers and other related items. 9. We will be asking our local battered women's center to partner with us in this project. 10. We will also be involving our partners in the state-wide network against domestic violence in this project. 11. We have contacted the Wilton, Ct.high school, which initiated the cutout portion of the project and also the domestic violence task force that they partnered with. They have and will continue to provide us with technical assistance in this project. 12. We will be providing a training at the Vt. Governor's Youth Leadership Conference on "Sexting" and other related issues in late November. 13.We will be sharing this project with other SADD Chapters at an upcoming "Youth Advisory Committee" training, so that they can host the function at their school. 14. We will be scheduling one or more RAD trainings for female students who wish to atrend from the colleges and high schools impacted. 15. We will provide the project to over 800 Rutland HS students and staff as well as over 300 Stafford Technical Center students and staff on December 3, 2009. 16. We will schedule and provide the "Hands are not for Hitting" project at the College of St. Joseph on or about December 8, 2009.
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Bullying and Violence

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