By Rona Amiri
Youth can ignite huge movements that can truly change society despite barriers such as ageism, sexism and racism. Everyday youth are making an impact in their communities around the world! Here in our community youth are working towards ending violence against girls and women! In just a short few months our YOUth Ending Violence workshops have reached 700 youth! We have trained 6 new youth volunteers who are committed to making an impact on other youth!
Why is this work important? Well, dating violence is the highest among the 15-24 age group, making up 43% of all incidents of dating violence!
We have presented to youth all over the Greater Vancouver area in from New Westminster to North Vancouver! We have been to some exceptional schools where teachers and counselors understand the importance of violence prevention! Schools Riverside Secondary in Port Coquitlam and Glen Eagle in Coquitlam ask us to facilitate workshops for the youth in their planning 10 classes every year!
All of this work is possible because of our amazing volunteers who are committed to ending violence!
Workshops have been going amazingly! We are able to see the impact of our workshops with our evaluations. Here are some comments left by youth participants on our evaluations:
“The workshops impacted me and opened my eyes and helped me realize there are many forms of abuse. It helped me realize that women can get help and that I may have been in one [abusive relationship]” Female – 16
“I realized that I made some mistakes with my ex and now I realize her point of view.” Boy -16
“I learned that violence against women is a lot more integrated in our society.” Boy-17
“It impacted me greatly. If I were in a relationship I would know what not to do.” Boy -15
“It [the presentation] will impact my whole life.” Girl – 18
“I am now informed on stopping violence.” Boy -16
“It helped me see a possible abusive relationship of one of my friends.” Girl – 15
“Shocked me seeing the numbers [statistics of violence] and learning how the media talks about violence.” Boy-15
We want to thank all of the amazing volunteers, youth, schools, organizations, and adult allies we have worked with in the last few months! It is fantastic to see the community respond so positively to the work we do and understand the need for this work to continue!
We have upcoming workshops this summer in different community organizations such as The Peak House! And we are already booking workshops for the new school year at Langley Education Center and York House School!
We also hope to train more youth volunteers because of the high volume of workshop requests we have received in such a short period of time! Stay tuned for more on that!
Exciting things are coming up for us and we want you to be a part of it! Join us on social media to see what’s new with our program and where we are in the community!
For more information on our violence prevention workshops for youth or to become a volunteer call Rona at 604-318-2011 or email yev@bwss.org
If you could do something to end violence against girls and women, wouldn’t you?
