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YOUTH SERVICES BUREAU
“But here’s what you have to remember about the 16 percent,” said Andrea Soto. “We’re only talking about teens who report physical abuse by a boyfriend or girlfriend. The number of teens in a violent dating relationship would be off the charts if emotional and verbal violence were included.”
Andrea, who is a member of the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council (MYLC) at Stamford High School, was talking about an underreported fact of life in Connecticut for far too many teens – violent dating relationships that compromise their emotional, social and academic well-being. “Connecticut ranks second in the nation in the number of violent teen dating relationships,” said Andrea. “That’s why MYLC started a campaign to help people our age understand that love shouldn’t hurt.”
Launched in May 2007, the public awareness campaign includes outreach, silent demonstrations and the arts to reach middle school and high school aged students. “For example, we set up our Clothesline Project at Stamford High,” said Eunice Chun, another member of MYLC. “We painted 150 shirts and hung them on the clothesline in full view of hundreds of students. The shirts had phrases about dating violence or the name and age of a dating violence victim. We handed hotline cards to students as they passed the clothesline on the way to class.”
Members of MYLC also led a silent demonstration in front of the Government Center with 132 students. They distributed 225 cupcakes to students and teachers at school. Each cupcake had the number 16 on the frosting. “When a student approached us for a cupcake,” said Andrea, “we explained that 16 percent of the teens in Connecticut were in a violent relationship last year.”
And in November MYLC hosted a House Party for 50 teens. The House Party is a 40-minute performance that includes spoken word pieces and live music and vocals about teen dating violence. “You could hear a pin drop,” said Allie Levine, another member of MYLC. “The spoken word pieces, which are real-life stories about dating abuse, grabbed you by the throat and wouldn’t let go.”
Public awareness activities planned for January and February 2008 used cartoon characters, body art photos, fortune cookies, and t-shirts to spread the word about dating violence. “We had activities for the first week of February, which is National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Week,” said Eunice.
In addition to public awareness activities, the members of MYLC use grant making volunteer projects and social change campaigns to address teen dating violence. “It is part of what we call socially engaged philanthropy,” said Andrea. “Don’t get me wrong. Giving money to support a program is important, but it’s not enough. That’s why we combine the grant making with activism, volunteer time and social change.”
The social change component of socially engaged philanthropy is typically a challenge for people to grasp. “An important thing we try to do is influence laws and policies about dating violence,” said Eunice, “We haven’t decided on a campaign topic, but we’re leaning towards asking the Governor and State Legislature to decrease the number of ex-offenders supervised by probation officers.”
The social change component is difficult for some people to grasp because it involves teens trying to change things. “That’s foreign to a lot of people,” said Andrea. “But people have to get used to us advocating for others. Teen dating violence is not going away, so neither are we.”
The Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council is made possible by the support of the Mayor’s Office and the Stamford Youth Services Bureau. For more information, please call Terri Drew at 977-5674.
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