Our communities are facing a multitude of crises; crisis of faith in our civil institutions, crisis of inequity, and a crisis of violence, both physical and mental.
Violence Free Communities
Our hōkū, or guiding star of the initiative, is to birth violence-free communities where healthy, thriving and safe youth can become healthy, thriving and safe adults. We provide comprehensive curriculum and cross-sector alliances that leverage the complex and diverse cultural strengths of our people to establish integrated violence prevention as the de facto standard in Hawai'i.
In order to disrupt the cycle of family and interpersonal violence that silently plagues our communities we must go upstream and, therefore, prevention must begin at an early age.
Early education has proven effective in arresting the perpetuation of violent behaviors and harassment as children grow into adulthood. To maximize the effect of this phenomenon for the Hawai'i community at large, we envision comprehensive, quality curriculum that is integrated in every educational and youth serving organization throughout our state so that we may all live in violence-free, thriving communities.
The Facts
In Hawaii, over one-third (16,000) high school kids reported experiencing forms of interpersonal violence. Source
Those who experience interpersonal violence are up to three times more likely to fall victim to substance abuse, depression, or suicidal ideation. Source
Girls between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence, nearly triple the national average. Source
Only 33% of teens who were in an abusive relationship ever told anyone about the abuse. Source
Though 82% of parents feel confident that they could recognize the signs if their child was experiencing dating abuse, a majority of parents (58%) could not correctly identify all the warning signs of abuse. Source
64% of adult domestic violence victims reported that their ability to work was negatively impacted. Source
94-99% of intimate partner violence survivors experienced economic abuse. Source
The Solution.
Film is a modern, natural way to share meaningful stories. When working with young people, educators often use film to help raise awareness, share information, and start conversations. Two films have been developed—one for Middle School youth and one for High School youth.
Comprehensive Curriculum
Extensive curricula and training to guide administrators in understanding the impact of primary prevention and how to best support their faculty, staff and students; to train faculty and staff on how to effectively respond to disclosures without missing, dismissing and avoiding signs of violence; to train educators on how to use the film with the discussion guide; to inculcate parents on how to share information about dating violence, signs and symptoms of unhealthy relationship, ways to respond to their young person and resources. This multitudinous approach will build capacity throughout the State and beyond.