Stop Violence Against Women Before It Begins

By Hannah Sherman, JWI Intern

As hard as it is to believe, February has almost come to an end. While this usually signals the transition into the beautiful springtime weather (although, who are we kidding, the average temperature here in DC for the past three months has been about 55 degrees) the end of February also marks the culmination of Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.

Today, JWI and Futures Without Violence, the YWCA, Men Can Stop Rape, the American School Counselor Association hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill titled Prevent Teen Dating Violence: Stop Violence Against Women Before It Begins.  The distinguished panel of speakers included Elizabeth Miller, Chief of Division of Adolescent Medicine for the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC; Joe Torre, Major League Baseball and Founder and Chairman of the Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation; and Gloria Terry, President of the Texas Council on Family violence; all of whom spoke on the impact of engaging men in prevention efforts. Speakers on the subject of teen dating violence prevention strategies included Debbie Lee, Vice President of Futures Without Violence; Gabrielle Union, Award-winning actress and sexual assault advocate; Erin O’Malley, Dean of Faculty and Counseling at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA; and Yesenia Romo, Director of YWCA Metropolitan Chicago’s Sexual Violence and Support Services. Additionally, Congressman David Reichert (R-WA), Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) all spoke of their deep support for finding ways to end teen dating and domestic violence.

JWI Executive Director Lori Weinstein & Gabrielle Union

As a proud child of the ‘90s, I’m not ashamed whatsoever to admit that I can probably recite, word for word, the movies Bring It On and 10 Things I Hate About You. At today’s briefing, Gabrielle Union, an actress in both of these teen classics, touched on a much more serious topic than the ones covered in the previously mentioned films. A victim of brutal assault and rape as a teen, Gabrielle has become an anti-violence advocate, using her celebrity to promote this cause that is very true to her heart. Similarly, Major League Baseball star Joe Torre has used his own past of coming from abusive home in order to create the Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation, developing educational programs that will end the cycle of domestic violence and save lives.

JWI Executive Director Lori Weinstein & Joe Torre

Each and every one of the speakers highlighted the urgency of continued funding and legislative actions to prevent teen dating violence, stressing the importance of having authority figures teens can confide in, from coaches to school counselors. In creating a safe environment, young people will hopefully feel more comfortable discussing this personal issue and seeking help when needed.

The speeches of Congressman Dave Reichert, Congresswoman Gwen Moore, and Congressman John Lewis exemplify that the fight for legislative action should be a bipartisan achievement. Their collective efforts prove that teen dating violence is not an issue of politics, but an issue of health and safety for all people, regardless of political affiliation. Violence doesn’t discriminate and neither should the policies regarding teen dating and domestic violence.

Just because the month of February is over, this does not mean we should turn our attention away from this ever increasing problem in society. If we continue to fight for better legislation we will continue to take steps closer to ending teen dating violence and creating a safer and happier world for all.

Empowering Teens

By Zephira Derblich-Milea, Youth Program Coordinator, Shalom Bayit

Zephira Derblich-Milea

Shalom Bayit’s youth program, Love Shouldn’t Hurt (LSH), provides healthy relationships education and dating violence prevention to Jewish youth (middle school – college), parents, and educators in nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2011 we reached over 900 teens with critical abuse prevention education.

Every time we lead a workshop we can see the impact our program is having on teens. One example of this is the 8th grader who approached her religious school teacher two weeks after participating in an LSH workshop. “Maya” told her teacher that her relationship with her boyfriend had started out “good” but that it had slowly become abusive, and although she had known this for a long time, she did not know what to do. After hearing the LSH workshop she felt she finally had the tools to leave the relationship (which she had wanted to do for a long time). She used the handout from the LSH packet entitled, “what to do if you are in an abusive relationship.” Following the steps and information in the handout and the tools she had learned in the workshop, Maya made a safety plan to leave. Maya expressed how happy and relieved she was to have made that decision, and how grateful she was to have participated in the workshop.

We know that dating violence impacts teens at a high rate and we believe that educating teens now about dating violence is key to breaking the cycle of violence in our communities.

“Teach your children well”

By Hannah Sherman, JWI Intern

Being not so far removed from my teenage years, I believe I have a bit of insight into the minds of teenage girls. The inner workings of our brains spend our waking hours focusing on dating, schoolwork, dating, preparing for college, dating, and-oh, yeah-dating. In our impressionable adolescent years, where we are taught that social currency relies on things like who asks you to the homecoming dance, it is astounding that we are never educated in things directly relating to our dating lives. My experience in high school health class could have been taken straight out of the movie Mean Girls: a sports coach masquerading as a health teacher stood awkwardly in front of the classroom, lecturing us on how sex is bad, and abstinence is the only choice. This was about the extent of any kind of education we received on any subject relating to teen dating/social lives.

Teen dating violence is a huge epidemic in our generation, and the lack of education on the subject only feeds the cycle of abuse. Ann Burke, the founder and President of the Lindsay Ann Burke Memorial Fund, is all too familiar with the devastating effects of Teen Dating Violence. In an interview on NPR, Ann recounts the story of her 23 year old daughter, Lindsay, who was brutally murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend. An educator herself, Ann praises the role of teen dating violence education in being able to prevent more tragedies, wondering if such an education would have changed the fatal outcome for her daughter. It is important to understand that Lindsay did not have the passive personality one would imagine of a victim of abuse; she was the stereotypical girl next door, assertive and confident, proving that teen dating violence can happen to anyone.

Because of this, the Lindsay Ann Burke Memorial Fund has designed tools to educate and help everyone recognize the warning signs of an abusive relationship. If we are able to pinpoint these specific red-flags, we are increasing the potential victim’s chance of escaping such a life-threatening situation. We must also understand that even if we are not a victim or we don’t know anyone who is, it is still of the utmost importance to be educated; you never know when you may need to use this life-saving information. Education gives us the power to recognize abuse and equips us with the knowledge to help ourselves and others.

It is for people like Lindsay Ann Burke that we observe February as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, four weeks dedicated to the education of the public in order to prevent these violent crimes from continuing. JWI is doing our part with our Healthy Relationship curriculum, guiding all teens through an open discussion of the relationships in their lives. As Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sing, “Teach your children well.” If we can accomplish this goal, maybe one day we will live in a world where we no longer have to worry about teen dating violence.

Using Technology to Prevent Violence

By Nancy Schwartzman, filmmaker, media strategist, and catalyst for social change

Nancy Schwartzman

I’ve always felt passionately about harnessing technology to prevent sexual violence. During my earliest days as an activist, I used (what was then cutting-edge!) google mapping technology to create “safer” routes for women walking home in Brooklyn. I started www.NYC-Safestreets.orgalmost 10 years ago before we had maps on our phones and before Apps hit the market.

Now the tools we carry with us every day, in pockets and purses, are sophisticated enough to really make a difference in our day-to-day lives. The Circle of 6 iPhone App evolved from candid conversations with students across the country while on tour with my documentary, “The Line“. From small town campuses to urban Ivy League colleges, we discuss how consent, dating culture, and rape affect their lives and what strategies have proven most effective in preventing violence. We know that college students today live on their mobile phones, and they move in tight-knit online and offline social networks. We devised Circle of 6 to be a tool that meets young people where they are, and offers concrete strategies for supporting each other in their daily lives, whether threats to their safety are coming from their intimate relationships or potentially dangerous social situations.

Circle of 6

Circle of 6 lets you choose six trusted friends to add to your circle. If you get into an uncomfortable or risky situation, use Circle of 6 to automatically send your circle a pre-programmed SMS alert message, with your exact location. It’s quick. It’s discreet. Two taps on your iPhone is all it takes.

Our current goal is to get Circle of 6 in the hands of 30,000 college students. Multiply that by everyone’s Circle of 6 friends, and we have 180,000 people committed to stopping violence in their communities before it happens.

The app will be available download by March 2012, at www.circleof6app.com and find us on Facebook.

Coming to Terms with Feminism

By Emily Graham, graduate of Bowdoin College & former JWI Intern

This article appeared in the Washington Jewish Week on February 24, 2011

Emily Graham

I never considered myself much of a feminist before I left home for college.  On the contrary, I found the word to be a rather undignified and dated term, which was not at all applicable to the life of a Jewish girl coming from a liberal, upper-middleclass background.  I remember vividly a group discussion that took place during high school health class, in which one student announced that a girl was “asking for it” if she dressed provocatively and was subsequently sexually assaulted.  When I objected, the student turned to me and muttered “feminist” under his breath.  Red in the face, I quickly recoiled, ashamed to have been associated with the bra burners and Betty Friedans of my mother’s generation.  The horror.

Read the entire article

Learning from Yeardley Love

By Ann Rose Greenberg, JWI Marketing Coordinator

As we near the end of the second week of George Huguely’s trial for the murder of his former girlfriend Yeardley Love, the tragic reality of dating violence is on the national stage, and we are once again reminded of the importance of speaking out.

Story after horrifying story is coming out about the troubling warning signs evident in the UVA students’ relationship. Love’s roommates have testified that she and Huguely had several fights in those final months, and according to prosecutors, Huguely sent Love an email that said “I should have killed you.” People knew about the violence in this relationship, but no one spoke up.

As Janice D’Arcy wrote in her Washington Post parenting column, “In retrospect, it’s incidents like these that make escalating violence seem so obvious. But in real time, it’s hard for teens and young adults to understand what’s happening.” Media and society are desensitizing us to abuse, breeding a culture of silence that enables – sometimes encourages – all kinds of abusive behavior. When teens are lightheartedly tweeting about Chris Brown’s abuse towards Rihanna, how can we expect them to recognize the warning signs in their own relationships or those of their peers?

We need to fight back against our culture that condones abuse, and to do that, we need widespread education. Dating violence happens every day and touches one out of every four girls. We need to teach our teens about the warning signs, and teach them what the healthy relationships they deserve look like. We need to teach them to recognize abuse and speak out when they see it.

The Violence Against Women Act is currently up for reauthorization. This important legislation includes provisions for innovative prevention programs that teach young people, especially teens, about violence and healthy relationships. Please contact your Senators today and urge them to co-sponsor and pass S. 1925. It shouldn’t take a tragedy to inspire violence prevention.

Chris Brown at the Grammys: Horrifying Reactions to Violence

By Hannah Sherman, JWI Intern

I have a confession to make: I’m that awkward person, singing and dancing in the car that you pull up next to at the intersection. While I can’t help but belt out (quite out of key, let me assure you) the tunes that come through the car stereo, one artist has made me reconsider if I truly want to be singing his songs.

When news broke three years ago that Chris Brown physically assaulted Rihanna, I was shocked. It may have been naïve at the time, but I thought celebrities were immune from the problems of the “normal” folk. This incident quickly took the issue of teen dating violence to an international, public stage, proving to the world that this is a serious issue that needs to be recognized.

While in the immediate aftermath Chris Brown faced massive media backlash, this year’s Grammy Awards welcomed him back, allowing him to perform on the same stage that Rihanna would perform on later that evening. The most shocking and horrifying part of the evening was not even that Chris Brown was allowed to perform, but the way in which his fans reacted on twitter.

Now call me crazy, but being physically abused isn’t something that I would ever wish upon myself. While I would have thought most people would agree with my sentiment on the matter, it seems as if some of his fans not only excuse his violent past, and even make light of it. In a horrifying selection of tweets, young women expressed that Brown could ‘beat them anytime’, one going to far as to posit, “Do you realize that it would be an honor if he hit you?”

In a blog for the Orlando Sentinel, Lisa Cianci writes, “Where have we gone wrong as a society when girls think it’s OK to be hit if the guy is hot?” If we start legitimizing violence, we only make it more acceptable. Contemporary media and society are desensitizing youth to abuse, breeding this culture where violence is glamorized. If we don’t make changes to the ways in which the media deals with domestic violence, we risk the endless perpetuation of teen dating violence.

Use JWI’s dating abuse and healthy relationship guides to learn more about breaking the cycle.

Talking to Our Girls Can Help Prevent Dating Violence

“Tweens and Teens talk with me about peer pressure at their schools.  They have shared how their ‘boyfriends pressure them into doing things they don’t want to do’ and how sometimes they ‘don’t feel safe with their boyfriends.’”

By Cantor Deborah Jacobson, Temple Ahavat Shalom, Palm Harbor, Florida, Co-chair of JWI’s Youth Committee and member of JWI’s Clergy Taskforce

Cantor Deborah Jacobson with Lori Weinstein, JWI's executive director

Last year, I had the privilege of participating in a briefing on Capitol Hill to mark Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention month.  I was invited to talk about the role that the faith community plays in prevention efforts, and why middle school is a critical age for this type of education.   I listened to powerful remarks from government leaders, policy makers, and victims of abuse, and learned about the pervasiveness of the issue: approximately 72% of 8th and 9th graders report “dating” and that dating violence is the rule, not the exception; 1 in 4 adolescents report emotional, physical, or sexual violence each year; 1 in 4 teens in a relationship say they have been called names, harassed or put down by their partner through cell phones and texting.

As a female clergy and mother to two daughters, ages 11 and 15, and as a woman who grew up in an environment where I observed women treated “less than” their male counterparts, I feel a personal mission to help raise a new generation of strong and healthy girls. I have been facilitating JWI’s Strong Girls, Healthy Relationships curriculum with 8th grade girls for the past 5 years. I have become acutely aware of how crucial it is to engage tweens in conversation and knowledge of relationships and healthy dating.

If we don’t talk about these issues, how can we help our girls identify warning signs and prevent dating violence and abuse?

JWI’s program gives girls specific language and awareness of relationship issues, power/control and status.  In the program we talk about status and self-esteem and how others impact our self-esteem.  Through a variety of creative medium within the curriculum, we engage in conversation about dating, abuse, domestic violence, social media and peer pressure.

In the middle school years and beyond there is so much pressure on our young girls to conform to what is accepted by their peers and the media.  There is intense pressure to fit in at any cost.

Tweens and teens talk with me about peer pressure at their schools.  They have shared how the “girls who dress sexy, act dumb and needy, get the attention and the cute boys.”   They have also shared how their “boyfriends pressure them into doing things they don’t want to do” and how sometimes they “don’t feel safe with their boyfriends.” In participating in the Strong Girls, Healthy Relationships curriculum, the girls are able to gain an invaluable awareness of relationship issues.  In one of the exercises the girls walk around the room feeling the terms of “high status” and “low status” as I call them out.  We then engage in meaningful conversation about status and self-esteem and how others can impact our self-esteem and what makes a good friend.

As parents, we don’t always know how to best respond to an issue or question and may avoid the subject altogether.  We must create open and ongoing channels of communication with our tweens and teens and help them to set appropriate boundaries for their safety.  It is crucial that our girls know about boundaries and how to implement them.  We have more influence than we think.  We must teach our children how to have a healthy relationship and to recognize warning signs when it is not.  JWI’s curriculum, “Strong Girls, Healthy Relationships” was written for this purpose of empowering our girls.  I am grateful to be able to use it to help prevent teen dating violence and to build healthy relationships.

Bring JWI’s “Strong Girls, Healthy Relationships” and other programs to your community.

Fighting Abuse Through Music

By Hannah Sherman, JWI Intern

Gloria Gaynor (Photo by Docklandsboy, via Wikimedia Commons)

There is a unique phenomenon that I have experienced at every Bar and Bat Mitzvah I have ever been to in my 21 years of living. From the booming first note, Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” seems to send out a magnetic pulse, causing women and girls of all ages to converge on the dance floor. While at first it may be the groovy, disco beat that attracts us, what keeps us singing along is the message of empowerment. The song quickly turns into an anthem, allowing all women to celebrate our independence.

Recently, The Pixel Project compiled a list of 16 songs about violence against women and staying strong and positive in the face of abuse. Songs from popular music sensations Pink and Christina Aguilera, just to name a few, promote dialogue about the subject of violence against women, something that is often considered a “private matter” and left out of public discourse.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, and with powerful lyrics and catchy tunes from these 16 songs, hopefully teens will feel more confident standing up against abuse and seeking help when needed. To teenagers, popular musicians are figures to be idolized; with their heroes coming forward and publicly raising awareness to the issue and celebrating women’s empowerment, teens can realize that it is important to discuss, in the public sphere, violence against women.

Can popular music bring us one step closer to ending the cycle of abuse? Only time will tell, but for now, I will look at my favorite songs with a new lens, recognizing the potential impact such songs can have on the end of violence against women.

JWI Mobilizes the Faith Community Around Ending Violence Against Women

By Hannah Sherman, JWI Intern

Growing up, one of my favorite movies was Keeping the Faith, telling the story of the unexpected relationship between two best friends, one a rabbi and the other a priest. While the comedy contains a romantic subplot and the usual gags one has to expect in any Ben Stiller movie (really, who can resist the rousing Gospel choir rendition of Ein Keloheinu?) the moral of the story is how two people from two distinct religions come together for the betterment of society.

While slightly (and by slightly, I really mean drastically) different than the interfaith karaoke community center that is the end result of interfaith work in the movie, Jewish Women International is echoing the axiom of interfaith unity by coordinating a letter signed by nearly 45 national faith organizations  urging Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). In times of crisis, victims often turn to their faith communities and leaders for guidance and support. It is for this reason that it is of the utmost importance for religious organizations to rally together in support of VAWA. JWI is proud to lead these efforts and convene the Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition, a group of religious organizations focused on advocating for public policies that improve the lives of women and girls.

In our current world where religious affiliation has the potential to act as a dividing tool in society, it is wonderful to see the synthesis of these faith based groups, overcoming religious differences for the health and safety of all women. I hope you will join JWI and our incredible interfaith partners in our effort to reauthorize VAWA this Congress.

An Equal & Just World: A Woman’s Right to Control Her Own Reproductive Health

By Hannah Sherman, JWI Intern

Photo by Ceridwen, via Wikimedia Commons

With the plethora of reality T.V. shows nowadays, from Teen Mom to I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant, you would never know that 98% of US women have at some time in their lives used birth control. In our post-feminist society, where it is commonplace to see birth control ads on television (I know you get that Nuvaring jingle stuck in your head every time), I would think that the stigma has been removed, and that it is the recognized right of every woman to control her reproductive life and health.

Several weeks ago, the Obama Administration proclaimed that most health insurance plans must cover contraceptives for women free of charge, rejecting an exemption sought by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for insurance provided to employees of religiously-affiliated hospitals, colleges and charities. Citing religious freedom, the Bishops argued that they should not need to provide basic women’s health needs such as birth control, goes against their religious principles, to their employees.

But many sexually active women of child-bearing age do not wish to become pregnant; in using birth control, they are taking control of their own lives and bodies, making a responsible reproductive decision. Furthermore, to many women, birth control is much more than a contraceptive, and is used in the treatment of other problems such as menstrual disorders.

JWI applauds the Obama Administration’s decision. We believe that access to reproductive health information and services builds a foundation for healthier families and communities, reduces maternal and infant mortality and improves the health of women and their families. We are strongly committed to reproductive choice and we believe women deserve the right to make private health decisions according to the dictates of their own faith and conscience, not according to legislation and public policies.

Sadly, anti-contraception activists are not backing down. So far, they have launched a multi-million dollar campaign and have collected 20,000 signatures on a petition on the White House’s “We the People” website calling on the Administration to repeal its new birth control coverage policy. The White House will respond to every petition that collects 25,000 signatures – our opponents are close to reaching this number.

We need your help today. Counter these damaging efforts by signing a petition generated by pro-choice women’s groups expressing your support for every woman’s right to no-cost birth control.

Part of the #HERvotes blog carnival.

Responding to Sexual Violence at Yale

By Daniel Tahara, Class of 2014, Computer Science & Mathematics, Yale University

Daniel Tahara

Yale’s response to the challenges of sexual violence and inequities on campus has been highly visible, yet equally inadequate.  By creating a committee to address the Title IX suit (filed against the University by male and female students and recent alumni who allege that the University’s failure to properly handle incidents of assault has created a “hostile environment,”), they might have been able to address the issue in a meaningful way.  The mistake they made, however, was assuming that the committee could be a panacea.  Furthermore, by requiring all campus leaders to attend a sexual harassment training event masquerading as “leadership training,” they only did more to exacerbate the real problem: that sexual violence is not regarded as seriously as it should be and that any attempt at systemic change is viewed as something of a joke.

As I have learned during my time at Yale, there is an unspoken belief that the victims of sexual violence should not speak out or report the incidents, as doing so would “ruin” the life of the offender. To some degree the hesitancy is understandable— I do believe people make mistakes and should be given second chances, and that alcohol can blur the bounds of culpability in certain situations. But what of the victim?  While empathy is a cherished virtue, empathy leading to inaction perpetuates the problem, because both the offender and the victim know that there will be few, if any, consequences.

I do want to reiterate that I am not seeking to single out Yale, or any other institution for that matter; it is merely the example to which I can best relate.  The underlying pattern is common on all college campuses across the country.  Where this pattern fits into the broader question of relationships and sexuality is in the pervasiveness of the hook-up culture for the late-teen through early-20s age group.  I haven’t yet fully wrapped my head around it, so I am in no position to criticize.  However, based on my specific, albeit limited exposure to it, I do feel comfortable saying that the hook-up culture is incompatible with a culture of openness and conversation.  “Hooking up” seems to have become a tag for two people who are having a physical relationship who don’t actually address an underlying emotional connection (or lack thereof).  Not to say that a strictly physical relationship cannot be healthy, but when there is no communication, that is where troubles start.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. I think it’s important to take this opportunity to discuss the issue, because the way I see it, education and open communication are the best ways to prevent sexual violence.

That’s my take. What do you think?

Stupid Boy

By Ali Lewis, Database & Web Manager

For Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, I want to share a beautiful song by Keith Urban that can be used as a conversation starter with your teens. Abuse isn’t just physical and done with fists. It can be mental and emotional and done with words.

And don’t let them tell you they don’t like country music! This is not the twangy, banjo-pickin’ kind of country!

Well, she was precious like a flower
She grew wild, wild but innocent
A perfect prayer in a desperate hour
She was everything beautiful and different

Stupid boy, you can’t fence that in
Stupid boy, it’s like holding back the wind
She let her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
She never even knew she had a choice and that’s what happens
When the only voice she hears is telling her she can’t
Stupid boy, stupid boy

So what made you think you could take a life
And just push it push it around
I guess to build yourself up so high
You had to take her and break her down

She let her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
She never even knew she had a choice and that’s what happens
When the only voice she hears is telling her she can’t
You stupid boy

Oh, you always had to be right but now you’ve lost
The only thing that ever made you feel alive
Yeah, yeah

Well, she let her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
Yes, you did
She never even knew she had a choice and that’s what happens
When the only voice she hears is telling her she can’t
You stupid boy, oh, I’m the same old
Same old stupid boy

It took a while for her to figure out she could run
But when she did, she was long gone
Long gone, long gone
Ah, she’s gone

Nobody’s ever gonna love me like she loved me
And she loved me, she loved me
God please, just let her know
I’m sorry, I’m sorry
I’m sorry, I’m sorry
Baby, yeah, I’m down on my knees
She’s never coming back to me

Girl Scouts: More Than Just Cookies

By Hannah Sherman, Intern

Staring at the box of Girl Scout cookies next to my computer, I can’t help but focus on the faces of the young girls printed on the box. Their innocent, smiling faces convey a sense of hope for the future where women and girls can achieve anything they put their minds to. Now, I know what you’re thinking. It’s a box of cookies. What does being a girl scout and selling cookies have to do with the future of women’s leadership?

The 100th anniversary celebration for the Girl Scouts of America on Capitol Hill marked the launch of a new campaign called ToGetHerThere, empowering girls to be leaders tomorrow. By taking a stance against mean-girl bullying, promoting healthy media, and supporting girls in science, technology, engineering and math, the Girl Scouts of America hope to instill in young girls a sense of confidence that all dreams of leadership can come true. As Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stated on Wednesday, the Girl Scouts promote “courage, confidence and character to change the world.”

At the event, I came across a booth with a group of 11-year old Girl Scouts handing out cards on the 5 skills to use in daily life: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. These young girls detailed their use of the money management skill, recounting a story of how they saved and budgeted their troop money in order to send themselves to Savannah, without a single parent having to pay for the trip. At the neighboring booth, a different troop worked on an electrical contraption that produced bird chirping noises that they built entirely on their own. The unparalleled pride that these young women exuded proved to me that the Girl Scouts of America is taking great strides in fostering both the creative and pragmatic aspects that lead to women’s professional leadership.

So again I turn to the young girls gracing the front of the cookie box. Because of the work the Girl Scouts of America is doing to ensure that all girls recognize that they are capable and deserving of holding leadership positions, I can feel confident knowing that we are one step closer to ensuring all young girls reach their full potential as leaders in our society. So, still think being a girl scout is only about selling cookies? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Learn about JWI’s Healthy Relationship programs.

Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month

Today marks the start of Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month – 29 days of consciousness-raising around an issue near and dear to our hearts. In the years since JWI began working on this issue, we have developed a suite of programs aimed at dating violence prevention. Now we’re pleased to announce that our newest healthy relationship training program for teens – a faith-based curriculum adaptable to every religion and denomination – will be released later this spring.

Our recent survey of U.S. Jewish domestic violence programs and organizations found that respondents rank teen dating abuse as one of the three most serious violence-related problems facing young people today. Nearly 70% of respondents provide healthy relationship programming for teens. Organizations focus efforts on middle school, high school, and college students through healthy relationship programming at school, after school and in synagogues. The results of this survey will help us assess the services available in the Jewish community, as well as the most critical areas of unmet need, so we can help programs better serve their clients as we advocate for them on Capitol Hill and facilitate a sharing of ideas and resources.

JWI’s advocacy work focuses on critical issues for women and girls: Lately we have been working tirelessly to raise support for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which includes provisions for innovative prevention programs that teach young people, especially teens, about violence and healthy relationships. S. 1925, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011, is currently moving through Congress, and will ensure that life-saving VAWA programs and services are continued for another five years. You can help ensure that this prevention-focused bill is passed into law by contacting your Senators today and urging them to co-sponsor and pass S. 1925.

We are so pleased that President Obama has recognized the importance of raising awareness for teen dating violence prevention and declared February National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. We hope you’ll join us in  protecting the safety of girls everywhere!