Mine Yours Ours (MYO): What's Right in Relationships
Submitted by MYOuthspeak on Mon, 11/16/2009 - 00:26.
Last updated on Mon, 11/16/2009 - 00:26.
Vital Stats
ongoing project
05/30/2009
500
50
Project Video
The Problem
1 in 3 teenagers report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked or physically hurt by their partner. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.) At YouthSPEAK, we started the MYO (Mine, Yours, Ours): What’s Right In Relationships initiative to try and raise awareness, start conversations, and prevent teen dating violence for a generation of youth in our community of Bridgeport, CT.
Bridgeport has one of the highest child poverty rates for a city of its size. According to the 2000 census, 9,950 or 25% of youth, live in poverty, compared to 10% statewide and 17% nationally. These youth are at high risk for poor health, poor nutrition, homelessness, poor academic performance, violence and abuse.
In addition, Bridgeport schools are experiencing an increasing trend in youth’s exhibiting and reporting problem behaviors. These include substance abuse, truancy/drop out, school and community youth violence and mental health problems. The learning environment is often disrupted because of the social/psychological needs of students and student learning is compromised.
Currently, in CT, there is no mandated education in schools about Teen Dating Violence, and many young people are unable to decipher what’s right in relationships. According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, only half of all tweens (age 11-14) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) By preventing Teen Dating Violence through theater, safe and open conversations, and creative opportunities for youth we hope to prevent many of these issues, in addition to the physical, psychological and mental effects of abuse.
Why It's Important
Teen Dating Violence is an issue that impacts the whole community, not just youth directly involved in unhealthy relationships. While the physical consequences of abuse can be seen, there are many other negative effects of dating violence. Relationship violence affects everyone—friends, family, teachers, and peers—and everything—grades, friendships, behavior, and your decisions—and is not ok. It even leads to death; of the women between the ages 15-19 murdered each year, 30% are killed by their husband or boyfriend. (City of New York, Teen Relationship Abuse Fact Sheet, March 1998)
Mine Yours Ours (MYO): What’s Right in Relationships, is the name of YouthSPEAK’s Teen Dating Violence prevention initiative. YouthSPEAK is a youth-led, youth-run, social action collective of Greater Bridgeport, made up of high school students who take action on issues that affect their lives. We are a diverse group, geographically, socio-economically, and by ethnicity. We come together to make a difference and speak out about our lives and the lives of our peers. MYO is a city-wide initiative to change social norms and prevent intimate partner violence, an issue that is incredibly important to all members of YouthSPEAK. A member of YouthSPEAK was on CBS earlier this year right after the Chris Brown-Rihanna story broke to share her experiences being in an abusive relationship. We were incredibly moved and impassioned by her story, and have worked to raise awareness about dating violence before and since.
The Plan Of Action
Our plan of action is city-wide, youth-led, and community-based. We work with schools, bus drivers, churches, youth groups, theaters, and neighborhood groups throughout Bridgeport to effect social change. We have already performed our “Love Is Not A Game” issue fashion show at the launch of our MYO initiative in Bridgeport, and had such success we want to do it again, with better signs. We meet weekly as a group, and also have weekly theater meeting to work on the skits, monologues and other performance-related activities we do to reach youth about Teen Dating Violence. We also have an online component to all we do utilizing social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
On December 3rd, we plan to have a city-wide event for "It's Time To Talk" Day, in school and in the community. At 2 local middle schools, we will facilitate student dialogues about healthy relationships, providing youth with a safe space to express their thoughts, ask questions, and share their own experiences with healthy and unhealthy relationships. We will also discuss the way teen relationships are shown in the media, and what that means for real-life relationships.
According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, nearly three in four tweens (72%) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) )MYO strongly believes that by reaching youth between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, before their first relationship, you can truly effect change in their lives, since the first relationship can set the precedent for a lifetime of relationships.
After-school, we are partnering with Playhouse on the Green, a local not-for-profit theater, to hold a SpeakOUT on Healthy Relationships open to the community, giving youth the opportunity to take the stage and speak out about what’s right in relationships. Planned youth performances include monologues about love, youth-written skits about choosing healthy relationships, and “Love Is Not A Game”, YouthSPEAK’s issue fashion show modeling the facts about teen dating violence. In the lobby of the theater will be a MYOsecret booth, inspired by the public art project Postsecret, where youth can anonymously create a piece of art sharing an experience about relationships, to be displayed publicly in the theater. All of this will be filmed and put on YouTube, tweeted, and blogged about by YouthSPEAK, enabling MYO to reach a larger audience. We know that youth are much more likely to listen to a slightly older peer or friend than an adult, so we make sure that everything we do is youth-driven and youth-led.
How Can Others Get Involved?
Others can make a difference by getting involved, either in person at a YouthSPEAK meeting or a MYO event or online by joining our Facebook group or commenting on one of our Blogs. Only by educating ourselves and sharing their knowledge with others can we prevent Teen Dating Violence. We need to be the change we want to see in the world, as Ghandi said. We need to start these conversations and speak out against violence in our lives, in the media, and in the world.
Project Updates
No updates found!
Location
Related Causes:
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Bridgeport, CT, 06605See map: Google MapsWhat's the problem you are trying to solve?: 1 in 3 teenagers report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked or physically hurt by their partner. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.) At YouthSPEAK, we started the MYO (Mine, Yours, Ours): What’s Right In Relationships initiative to try and raise awareness, start conversations, and prevent teen dating violence for a generation of youth in our community of Bridgeport, CT.
Bridgeport has one of the highest child poverty rates for a city of its size. According to the 2000 census, 9,950 or 25% of youth, live in poverty, compared to 10% statewide and 17% nationally. These youth are at high risk for poor health, poor nutrition, homelessness, poor academic performance, violence and abuse.
In addition, Bridgeport schools are experiencing an increasing trend in youth’s exhibiting and reporting problem behaviors. These include substance abuse, truancy/drop out, school and community youth violence and mental health problems. The learning environment is often disrupted because of the social/psychological needs of students and student learning is compromised.
Currently, in CT, there is no mandated education in schools about Teen Dating Violence, and many young people are unable to decipher what’s right in relationships. According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, only half of all tweens (age 11-14) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) By preventing Teen Dating Violence through theater, safe and open conversations, and creative opportunities for youth we hope to prevent many of these issues, in addition to the physical, psychological and mental effects of abuse.
Why is it important to you?: Teen Dating Violence is an issue that impacts the whole community, not just youth directly involved in unhealthy relationships. While the physical consequences of abuse can be seen, there are many other negative effects of dating violence. Relationship violence affects everyone—friends, family, teachers, and peers—and everything—grades, friendships, behavior, and your decisions—and is not ok. It even leads to death; of the women between the ages 15-19 murdered each year, 30% are killed by their husband or boyfriend. (City of New York, Teen Relationship Abuse Fact Sheet, March 1998)
Mine Yours Ours (MYO): What’s Right in Relationships, is the name of YouthSPEAK’s Teen Dating Violence prevention initiative. YouthSPEAK is a youth-led, youth-run, social action collective of Greater Bridgeport, made up of high school students who take action on issues that affect their lives. We are a diverse group, geographically, socio-economically, and by ethnicity. We come together to make a difference and speak out about our lives and the lives of our peers. MYO is a city-wide initiative to change social norms and prevent intimate partner violence, an issue that is incredibly important to all members of YouthSPEAK. A member of YouthSPEAK was on CBS earlier this year right after the Chris Brown-Rihanna story broke to share her experiences being in an abusive relationship. We were incredibly moved and impassioned by her story, and have worked to raise awareness about dating violence before and since.
What's your plan of action?: Our plan of action is city-wide, youth-led, and community-based. We work with schools, bus drivers, churches, youth groups, theaters, and neighborhood groups throughout Bridgeport to effect social change. We have already performed our “Love Is Not A Game” issue fashion show at the launch of our MYO initiative in Bridgeport, and had such success we want to do it again, with better signs. We meet weekly as a group, and also have weekly theater meeting to work on the skits, monologues and other performance-related activities we do to reach youth about Teen Dating Violence. We also have an online component to all we do utilizing social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
On December 3rd, we plan to have a city-wide event for "It's Time To Talk" Day, in school and in the community. At 2 local middle schools, we will facilitate student dialogues about healthy relationships, providing youth with a safe space to express their thoughts, ask questions, and share their own experiences with healthy and unhealthy relationships. We will also discuss the way teen relationships are shown in the media, and what that means for real-life relationships.
According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, nearly three in four tweens (72%) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) )MYO strongly believes that by reaching youth between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, before their first relationship, you can truly effect change in their lives, since the first relationship can set the precedent for a lifetime of relationships.
After-school, we are partnering with Playhouse on the Green, a local not-for-profit theater, to hold a SpeakOUT on Healthy Relationships open to the community, giving youth the opportunity to take the stage and speak out about what’s right in relationships. Planned youth performances include monologues about love, youth-written skits about choosing healthy relationships, and “Love Is Not A Game”, YouthSPEAK’s issue fashion show modeling the facts about teen dating violence. In the lobby of the theater will be a MYOsecret booth, inspired by the public art project Postsecret, where youth can anonymously create a piece of art sharing an experience about relationships, to be displayed publicly in the theater. All of this will be filmed and put on YouTube, tweeted, and blogged about by YouthSPEAK, enabling MYO to reach a larger audience. We know that youth are much more likely to listen to a slightly older peer or friend than an adult, so we make sure that everything we do is youth-driven and youth-led.
How Can Others Help?: Others can make a difference by getting involved, either in person at a YouthSPEAK meeting or a MYO event or online by joining our Facebook group or commenting on one of our Blogs. Only by educating ourselves and sharing their knowledge with others can we prevent Teen Dating Violence. We need to be the change we want to see in the world, as Ghandi said. We need to start these conversations and speak out against violence in our lives, in the media, and in the world.
Total hours volunteered (to date): 100Start Date: 05/30/2009
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Bridgeport has one of the highest child poverty rates for a city of its size. According to the 2000 census, 9,950 or 25% of youth, live in poverty, compared to 10% statewide and 17% nationally. These youth are at high risk for poor health, poor nutrition, homelessness, poor academic performance, violence and abuse.
In addition, Bridgeport schools are experiencing an increasing trend in youth’s exhibiting and reporting problem behaviors. These include substance abuse, truancy/drop out, school and community youth violence and mental health problems. The learning environment is often disrupted because of the social/psychological needs of students and student learning is compromised.
Currently, in CT, there is no mandated education in schools about Teen Dating Violence, and many young people are unable to decipher what’s right in relationships. According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, only half of all tweens (age 11-14) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) By preventing Teen Dating Violence through theater, safe and open conversations, and creative opportunities for youth we hope to prevent many of these issues, in addition to the physical, psychological and mental effects of abuse.
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Bridgeport has one of the highest child poverty rates for a city of its size. According to the 2000 census, 9,950 or 25% of youth, live in poverty, compared to 10% statewide and 17% nationally. These youth are at high risk for poor health, poor nutrition, homelessness, poor academic performance, violence and abuse.
In addition, Bridgeport schools are experiencing an increasing trend in youth’s exhibiting and reporting problem behaviors. These include substance abuse, truancy/drop out, school and community youth violence and mental health problems. The learning environment is often disrupted because of the social/psychological needs of students and student learning is compromised.
Currently, in CT, there is no mandated education in schools about Teen Dating Violence, and many young people are unable to decipher what’s right in relationships. According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, only half of all tweens (age 11-14) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) By preventing Teen Dating Violence through theater, safe and open conversations, and creative opportunities for youth we hope to prevent many of these issues, in addition to the physical, psychological and mental effects of abuse.
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Mine Yours Ours (MYO): What’s Right in Relationships, is the name of YouthSPEAK’s Teen Dating Violence prevention initiative. YouthSPEAK is a youth-led, youth-run, social action collective of Greater Bridgeport, made up of high school students who take action on issues that affect their lives. We are a diverse group, geographically, socio-economically, and by ethnicity. We come together to make a difference and speak out about our lives and the lives of our peers. MYO is a city-wide initiative to change social norms and prevent intimate partner violence, an issue that is incredibly important to all members of YouthSPEAK. A member of YouthSPEAK was on CBS earlier this year right after the Chris Brown-Rihanna story broke to share her experiences being in an abusive relationship. We were incredibly moved and impassioned by her story, and have worked to raise awareness about dating violence before and since.
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On December 3rd, we plan to have a city-wide event for "It's Time To Talk" Day, in school and in the community. At 2 local middle schools, we will facilitate student dialogues about healthy relationships, providing youth with a safe space to express their thoughts, ask questions, and share their own experiences with healthy and unhealthy relationships. We will also discuss the way teen relationships are shown in the media, and what that means for real-life relationships.
According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, nearly three in four tweens (72%) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) )MYO strongly believes that by reaching youth between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, before their first relationship, you can truly effect change in their lives, since the first relationship can set the precedent for a lifetime of relationships.
After-school, we are partnering with Playhouse on the Green, a local not-for-profit theater, to hold a SpeakOUT on Healthy Relationships open to the community, giving youth the opportunity to take the stage and speak out about what’s right in relationships. Planned youth performances include monologues about love, youth-written skits about choosing healthy relationships, and “Love Is Not A Game”, YouthSPEAK’s issue fashion show modeling the facts about teen dating violence. In the lobby of the theater will be a MYOsecret booth, inspired by the public art project Postsecret, where youth can anonymously create a piece of art sharing an experience about relationships, to be displayed publicly in the theater. All of this will be filmed and put on YouTube, tweeted, and blogged about by YouthSPEAK, enabling MYO to reach a larger audience. We know that youth are much more likely to listen to a slightly older peer or friend than an adult, so we make sure that everything we do is youth-driven and youth-led.
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On December 3rd, we plan to have a city-wide event for "It's Time To Talk" Day, in school and in the community. At 2 local middle schools, we will facilitate student dialogues about healthy relationships, providing youth with a safe space to express their thoughts, ask questions, and share their own experiences with healthy and unhealthy relationships. We will also discuss the way teen relationships are shown in the media, and what that means for real-life relationships.
According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, nearly three in four tweens (72%) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) )MYO strongly believes that by reaching youth between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, before their first relationship, you can truly effect change in their lives, since the first relationship can set the precedent for a lifetime of relationships.
After-school, we are partnering with Playhouse on the Green, a local not-for-profit theater, to hold a SpeakOUT on Healthy Relationships open to the community, giving youth the opportunity to take the stage and speak out about what’s right in relationships. Planned youth performances include monologues about love, youth-written skits about choosing healthy relationships, and “Love Is Not A Game”, YouthSPEAK’s issue fashion show modeling the facts about teen dating violence. In the lobby of the theater will be a MYOsecret booth, inspired by the public art project Postsecret, where youth can anonymously create a piece of art sharing an experience about relationships, to be displayed publicly in the theater. All of this will be filmed and put on YouTube, tweeted, and blogged about by YouthSPEAK, enabling MYO to reach a larger audience. We know that youth are much more likely to listen to a slightly older peer or friend than an adult, so we make sure that everything we do is youth-driven and youth-led.
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Bridgeport, CT, 06605See map: Google Maps
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[#value] => What's the problem you are trying to solve?: 1 in 3 teenagers report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked or physically hurt by their partner. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.) At YouthSPEAK, we started the MYO (Mine, Yours, Ours): What’s Right In Relationships initiative to try and raise awareness, start conversations, and prevent teen dating violence for a generation of youth in our community of Bridgeport, CT.
Bridgeport has one of the highest child poverty rates for a city of its size. According to the 2000 census, 9,950 or 25% of youth, live in poverty, compared to 10% statewide and 17% nationally. These youth are at high risk for poor health, poor nutrition, homelessness, poor academic performance, violence and abuse.
In addition, Bridgeport schools are experiencing an increasing trend in youth’s exhibiting and reporting problem behaviors. These include substance abuse, truancy/drop out, school and community youth violence and mental health problems. The learning environment is often disrupted because of the social/psychological needs of students and student learning is compromised.
Currently, in CT, there is no mandated education in schools about Teen Dating Violence, and many young people are unable to decipher what’s right in relationships. According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, only half of all tweens (age 11-14) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) By preventing Teen Dating Violence through theater, safe and open conversations, and creative opportunities for youth we hope to prevent many of these issues, in addition to the physical, psychological and mental effects of abuse.
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[#value] => Why is it important to you?: Teen Dating Violence is an issue that impacts the whole community, not just youth directly involved in unhealthy relationships. While the physical consequences of abuse can be seen, there are many other negative effects of dating violence. Relationship violence affects everyone—friends, family, teachers, and peers—and everything—grades, friendships, behavior, and your decisions—and is not ok. It even leads to death; of the women between the ages 15-19 murdered each year, 30% are killed by their husband or boyfriend. (City of New York, Teen Relationship Abuse Fact Sheet, March 1998)
Mine Yours Ours (MYO): What’s Right in Relationships, is the name of YouthSPEAK’s Teen Dating Violence prevention initiative. YouthSPEAK is a youth-led, youth-run, social action collective of Greater Bridgeport, made up of high school students who take action on issues that affect their lives. We are a diverse group, geographically, socio-economically, and by ethnicity. We come together to make a difference and speak out about our lives and the lives of our peers. MYO is a city-wide initiative to change social norms and prevent intimate partner violence, an issue that is incredibly important to all members of YouthSPEAK. A member of YouthSPEAK was on CBS earlier this year right after the Chris Brown-Rihanna story broke to share her experiences being in an abusive relationship. We were incredibly moved and impassioned by her story, and have worked to raise awareness about dating violence before and since.
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[#value] => What's your plan of action?: Our plan of action is city-wide, youth-led, and community-based. We work with schools, bus drivers, churches, youth groups, theaters, and neighborhood groups throughout Bridgeport to effect social change. We have already performed our “Love Is Not A Game” issue fashion show at the launch of our MYO initiative in Bridgeport, and had such success we want to do it again, with better signs. We meet weekly as a group, and also have weekly theater meeting to work on the skits, monologues and other performance-related activities we do to reach youth about Teen Dating Violence. We also have an online component to all we do utilizing social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
On December 3rd, we plan to have a city-wide event for "It's Time To Talk" Day, in school and in the community. At 2 local middle schools, we will facilitate student dialogues about healthy relationships, providing youth with a safe space to express their thoughts, ask questions, and share their own experiences with healthy and unhealthy relationships. We will also discuss the way teen relationships are shown in the media, and what that means for real-life relationships.
According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, nearly three in four tweens (72%) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) )MYO strongly believes that by reaching youth between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, before their first relationship, you can truly effect change in their lives, since the first relationship can set the precedent for a lifetime of relationships.
After-school, we are partnering with Playhouse on the Green, a local not-for-profit theater, to hold a SpeakOUT on Healthy Relationships open to the community, giving youth the opportunity to take the stage and speak out about what’s right in relationships. Planned youth performances include monologues about love, youth-written skits about choosing healthy relationships, and “Love Is Not A Game”, YouthSPEAK’s issue fashion show modeling the facts about teen dating violence. In the lobby of the theater will be a MYOsecret booth, inspired by the public art project Postsecret, where youth can anonymously create a piece of art sharing an experience about relationships, to be displayed publicly in the theater. All of this will be filmed and put on YouTube, tweeted, and blogged about by YouthSPEAK, enabling MYO to reach a larger audience. We know that youth are much more likely to listen to a slightly older peer or friend than an adult, so we make sure that everything we do is youth-driven and youth-led.
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[#value] => How Can Others Help?: Others can make a difference by getting involved, either in person at a YouthSPEAK meeting or a MYO event or online by joining our Facebook group or commenting on one of our Blogs. Only by educating ourselves and sharing their knowledge with others can we prevent Teen Dating Violence. We need to be the change we want to see in the world, as Ghandi said. We need to start these conversations and speak out against violence in our lives, in the media, and in the world.
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Bridgeport has one of the highest child poverty rates for a city of its size. According to the 2000 census, 9,950 or 25% of youth, live in poverty, compared to 10% statewide and 17% nationally. These youth are at high risk for poor health, poor nutrition, homelessness, poor academic performance, violence and abuse.
In addition, Bridgeport schools are experiencing an increasing trend in youth’s exhibiting and reporting problem behaviors. These include substance abuse, truancy/drop out, school and community youth violence and mental health problems. The learning environment is often disrupted because of the social/psychological needs of students and student learning is compromised.
Currently, in CT, there is no mandated education in schools about Teen Dating Violence, and many young people are unable to decipher what’s right in relationships. According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, only half of all tweens (age 11-14) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) By preventing Teen Dating Violence through theater, safe and open conversations, and creative opportunities for youth we hope to prevent many of these issues, in addition to the physical, psychological and mental effects of abuse.
Why is it important to you?: Teen Dating Violence is an issue that impacts the whole community, not just youth directly involved in unhealthy relationships. While the physical consequences of abuse can be seen, there are many other negative effects of dating violence. Relationship violence affects everyone—friends, family, teachers, and peers—and everything—grades, friendships, behavior, and your decisions—and is not ok. It even leads to death; of the women between the ages 15-19 murdered each year, 30% are killed by their husband or boyfriend. (City of New York, Teen Relationship Abuse Fact Sheet, March 1998)
Mine Yours Ours (MYO): What’s Right in Relationships, is the name of YouthSPEAK’s Teen Dating Violence prevention initiative. YouthSPEAK is a youth-led, youth-run, social action collective of Greater Bridgeport, made up of high school students who take action on issues that affect their lives. We are a diverse group, geographically, socio-economically, and by ethnicity. We come together to make a difference and speak out about our lives and the lives of our peers. MYO is a city-wide initiative to change social norms and prevent intimate partner violence, an issue that is incredibly important to all members of YouthSPEAK. A member of YouthSPEAK was on CBS earlier this year right after the Chris Brown-Rihanna story broke to share her experiences being in an abusive relationship. We were incredibly moved and impassioned by her story, and have worked to raise awareness about dating violence before and since.
What's your plan of action?: Our plan of action is city-wide, youth-led, and community-based. We work with schools, bus drivers, churches, youth groups, theaters, and neighborhood groups throughout Bridgeport to effect social change. We have already performed our “Love Is Not A Game” issue fashion show at the launch of our MYO initiative in Bridgeport, and had such success we want to do it again, with better signs. We meet weekly as a group, and also have weekly theater meeting to work on the skits, monologues and other performance-related activities we do to reach youth about Teen Dating Violence. We also have an online component to all we do utilizing social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
On December 3rd, we plan to have a city-wide event for "It's Time To Talk" Day, in school and in the community. At 2 local middle schools, we will facilitate student dialogues about healthy relationships, providing youth with a safe space to express their thoughts, ask questions, and share their own experiences with healthy and unhealthy relationships. We will also discuss the way teen relationships are shown in the media, and what that means for real-life relationships.
According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, nearly three in four tweens (72%) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) )MYO strongly believes that by reaching youth between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, before their first relationship, you can truly effect change in their lives, since the first relationship can set the precedent for a lifetime of relationships.
After-school, we are partnering with Playhouse on the Green, a local not-for-profit theater, to hold a SpeakOUT on Healthy Relationships open to the community, giving youth the opportunity to take the stage and speak out about what’s right in relationships. Planned youth performances include monologues about love, youth-written skits about choosing healthy relationships, and “Love Is Not A Game”, YouthSPEAK’s issue fashion show modeling the facts about teen dating violence. In the lobby of the theater will be a MYOsecret booth, inspired by the public art project Postsecret, where youth can anonymously create a piece of art sharing an experience about relationships, to be displayed publicly in the theater. All of this will be filmed and put on YouTube, tweeted, and blogged about by YouthSPEAK, enabling MYO to reach a larger audience. We know that youth are much more likely to listen to a slightly older peer or friend than an adult, so we make sure that everything we do is youth-driven and youth-led.
How Can Others Help?: Others can make a difference by getting involved, either in person at a YouthSPEAK meeting or a MYO event or online by joining our Facebook group or commenting on one of our Blogs. Only by educating ourselves and sharing their knowledge with others can we prevent Teen Dating Violence. We need to be the change we want to see in the world, as Ghandi said. We need to start these conversations and speak out against violence in our lives, in the media, and in the world.
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Current age (NOTE: this section is for people 25 and younger): 16Related Campaign or Program: Dating AbuseOPTIONAL - Link DoSomething action guides or fact pages to this project: How many people are directly involved in your project? : 50How many people has your project helped? : 500Location(s)
Bridgeport, CT, 06605See map: Google MapsWhat's the problem you are trying to solve?: 1 in 3 teenagers report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked or physically hurt by their partner. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.) At YouthSPEAK, we started the MYO (Mine, Yours, Ours): What’s Right In Relationships initiative to try and raise awareness, start conversations, and prevent teen dating violence for a generation of youth in our community of Bridgeport, CT.
Bridgeport has one of the highest child poverty rates for a city of its size. According to the 2000 census, 9,950 or 25% of youth, live in poverty, compared to 10% statewide and 17% nationally. These youth are at high risk for poor health, poor nutrition, homelessness, poor academic performance, violence and abuse.
In addition, Bridgeport schools are experiencing an increasing trend in youth’s exhibiting and reporting problem behaviors. These include substance abuse, truancy/drop out, school and community youth violence and mental health problems. The learning environment is often disrupted because of the social/psychological needs of students and student learning is compromised.
Currently, in CT, there is no mandated education in schools about Teen Dating Violence, and many young people are unable to decipher what’s right in relationships. According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, only half of all tweens (age 11-14) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) By preventing Teen Dating Violence through theater, safe and open conversations, and creative opportunities for youth we hope to prevent many of these issues, in addition to the physical, psychological and mental effects of abuse.
Why is it important to you?: Teen Dating Violence is an issue that impacts the whole community, not just youth directly involved in unhealthy relationships. While the physical consequences of abuse can be seen, there are many other negative effects of dating violence. Relationship violence affects everyone—friends, family, teachers, and peers—and everything—grades, friendships, behavior, and your decisions—and is not ok. It even leads to death; of the women between the ages 15-19 murdered each year, 30% are killed by their husband or boyfriend. (City of New York, Teen Relationship Abuse Fact Sheet, March 1998)
Mine Yours Ours (MYO): What’s Right in Relationships, is the name of YouthSPEAK’s Teen Dating Violence prevention initiative. YouthSPEAK is a youth-led, youth-run, social action collective of Greater Bridgeport, made up of high school students who take action on issues that affect their lives. We are a diverse group, geographically, socio-economically, and by ethnicity. We come together to make a difference and speak out about our lives and the lives of our peers. MYO is a city-wide initiative to change social norms and prevent intimate partner violence, an issue that is incredibly important to all members of YouthSPEAK. A member of YouthSPEAK was on CBS earlier this year right after the Chris Brown-Rihanna story broke to share her experiences being in an abusive relationship. We were incredibly moved and impassioned by her story, and have worked to raise awareness about dating violence before and since.
What's your plan of action?: Our plan of action is city-wide, youth-led, and community-based. We work with schools, bus drivers, churches, youth groups, theaters, and neighborhood groups throughout Bridgeport to effect social change. We have already performed our “Love Is Not A Game” issue fashion show at the launch of our MYO initiative in Bridgeport, and had such success we want to do it again, with better signs. We meet weekly as a group, and also have weekly theater meeting to work on the skits, monologues and other performance-related activities we do to reach youth about Teen Dating Violence. We also have an online component to all we do utilizing social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
On December 3rd, we plan to have a city-wide event for "It's Time To Talk" Day, in school and in the community. At 2 local middle schools, we will facilitate student dialogues about healthy relationships, providing youth with a safe space to express their thoughts, ask questions, and share their own experiences with healthy and unhealthy relationships. We will also discuss the way teen relationships are shown in the media, and what that means for real-life relationships.
According to the Liz Claiborne Foundation, nearly three in four tweens (72%) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2008.) )MYO strongly believes that by reaching youth between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, before their first relationship, you can truly effect change in their lives, since the first relationship can set the precedent for a lifetime of relationships.
After-school, we are partnering with Playhouse on the Green, a local not-for-profit theater, to hold a SpeakOUT on Healthy Relationships open to the community, giving youth the opportunity to take the stage and speak out about what’s right in relationships. Planned youth performances include monologues about love, youth-written skits about choosing healthy relationships, and “Love Is Not A Game”, YouthSPEAK’s issue fashion show modeling the facts about teen dating violence. In the lobby of the theater will be a MYOsecret booth, inspired by the public art project Postsecret, where youth can anonymously create a piece of art sharing an experience about relationships, to be displayed publicly in the theater. All of this will be filmed and put on YouTube, tweeted, and blogged about by YouthSPEAK, enabling MYO to reach a larger audience. We know that youth are much more likely to listen to a slightly older peer or friend than an adult, so we make sure that everything we do is youth-driven and youth-led.
How Can Others Help?: Others can make a difference by getting involved, either in person at a YouthSPEAK meeting or a MYO event or online by joining our Facebook group or commenting on one of our Blogs. Only by educating ourselves and sharing their knowledge with others can we prevent Teen Dating Violence. We need to be the change we want to see in the world, as Ghandi said. We need to start these conversations and speak out against violence in our lives, in the media, and in the world.
Total hours volunteered (to date): 100Start Date: 05/30/2009
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Get some cash to get your project to the next level. Weekly grants are available.
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