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We provide educational support groups and advocacy services for victims and survivors who have experienced or are at risk of violence in the community.
Suicide prevention support is here!
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Take care of a friend, a loved one, or yourself. Call, text, or chat with a 988 Lifeline counselor for help during difficult moments anytime, day or night.
dating violence & abuse prevention
1 IN 4 TEENAGE GIRLS & 1 IN 5 TEENAGE BOYS
Experience Physical Partner Violence
75% OF TEENAGE GIRLS & 50% OF TEENAGE BOYS
Experience Emotional Partner Violence
25% OF 16-19 YR OLD GIRLS
Have Experienced Physical Violence From A Dating Partner
10relationship dating Signs
Unhealthy Relationship Signs
While everyone does unhealthy things sometimes, we can all learn to love better by recognizing unhealthy signs and shifting to healthy behaviors. If you are seeing unhealthy signs in your relationship, it’s important not to ignore them and understand they can escalate to abuse. If you think you are in a dangerous situation, trust your gut and get help.
- Intensity: When someone expresses very extreme feelings and over-the-top behavior that feels overwhelming.
- Possessiveness: When someone is jealous to a point where they try to control who you spend time with and what you do.
- Manipulation: When someone tries to control your decisions, actions, or emotions. Manipulation is often hard to spot because it can be expressed in subtle or passive-aggressive ways
- Isolation: When someone keeps you away from friends, family, or other people
- Sabotage: When someone purposely ruins your reputation, achievements, or success.
- Belittling: When someone does and says things to make you feel bad about yourself.
- Guilting: When someone makes you feel responsible for their actons or make you feel its your job to keep them happy.
- Volatilty: When someone has a really strong unpredictable reaction that makes you feel scared , confused, or intimidated.
- Deflecting Responsibility: When someone repeatedly makes excuses for their unhealthy behavior.
- Betrayal: When someone is dishonest and acts in an intentionally dishonest way.
Healthy Relationship Signs
Healthy relationships bring out the best in you and make you feel good about yourself. A healthy relationship does not mean a “perfect” relationship, and no one is healthy 100% of the time, but the signs below are behaviors you should strive for in all of your relationships. Healthy relationships manifest themselves as healthy communication; another important part of a healthy relationship is loving yourself. Here are some characteristics and behaviors of a healthy relationship
- Comfortable Pace: The relationship moves at a speed that feels enjoyable for each person.
- Trust: Confidence that your partner won’t do anything to hurt you or ruin the relationship.
- Honesty: You can be truthful and candid without fearing how the other person will respond.
- Honesty: You can be truthful and candid without fearing how the other person will respond.
- Respect: You value one another’s beliefs and opinions, and love one another for who you are as a person.
- Equality: The relationship feels balanced and everyone puts the same effort into the success of the relationship.
- Kindness: You are caring and empathetic to one another, and provide comfort and support.
- Taking Responsibility: Owning your actions and words. You avoid placing blame and can admit when you make a mistake.
- Healthy Conflict: Openly and respectfully discussing issues and confronting disagreements non-judgmentally.
- Fun: You enjoy spending time together and you bring out the best in each other.
Bully Prevention & Advocacy
How many cases of bullying are reported each year? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 19% of the students who were studying in grades 9 and 10 reported being bullied on the school premises in the last 12 months.
Signs of Bullying
Signs a Child Is Being Bullied
Signs a Child is Bullying Others
Signs a Child is Bullying Others
Look for changes in the child. However, be aware that not all children who are bullied exhibit warning signs.
Some signs that may point to a bullying problem are:
- Unexplainable injuries
- Lost or destroyed clothing, books, electronics, or jewelry
- Frequent headaches or stomach aches, feeling sick or faking illness.
- Changes in eating habits, like suddenly skipping meals or binge eating. Kids may come home from school hungry because they did not eat lunch.
- Difficulty sleeping or frequent nightmares
- Declining grades, loss of interest in schoolwork, or not wanting to go to school
- Sudden loss of friends or avoidance of social situations
- Feelings of helplessness or decreased self esteem
- Self-destructive behaviors such as running away from home, harming themselves, or talking about suicide
If you know someone in serious distress or danger, don’t ignore the problem. Get Help Right Away
Signs a Child is Bullying Others
Signs a Child is Bullying Others
Signs a Child is Bullying Others
A child may be bullying others if they:
- Get into physical or verbal fights
- Have friends who bully others
- Are increasingly aggressive
- Get sent to the principal’s office or to detention frequently
- Have unexplained extra money or new belongings
- Blame others for their problems
- Don’t accept responsibility for their actions
- Are competitive and worry about their reputation or popularity
Gun Violence Prevention & Awareness
Silence Hides Gun Violence
GUN DEATHS IN TWO CATEGORIES:
Intimate Partner Gun Violence
INTIMATE PARTNER HOMICIDE: Nearly 1 million women alive today have reported a firearm threat, and having been shot or shot at by an intimate partner
GENERALLY, MORE THAN ONE KIND OF FIREARM THREAT IS USED BY ABUSERS TO THREATEN OR COERCE VICTIMS:
- Making verbal threats to use a gun to harm me
- Leaving a gun out to create a feeling of fear
- Pointing a gun (loaded or unloaded) at you or others
- Waving a gun around Pointing a gun at themselves/threatening self-harm
- Prohibiting the use of gun safes/storage to create a feeling of fear
- Cleaning a gun to create a feeling of fear
- Making verbal threats to commit a shooting in the communi ty (e.g. school, work, etc.)
- Shooting a gun at or near you or others to create a feeling of fear
Children and Teen Gun Violence
5,151 The number of children and teenagers shot in 2024
Firearms are one of the leading causes of death for young people. In the year 2024, the number of children and teenagers killed or wounded in shootings plummeted nearly 17 percent compared to 2023. Of the 5,151 children and teenagers under 18 who were shot this year, 1,403 died. [Gun Violence Archive]
Mommy Mentoring Academy
A Mentoring Program For First-Time Pregnant Moms
DID YOU KNOW
Pregnant adolescents ( ages 13-17) have an elevated risk of violence from their partners when compared with pregnant adults ( ages 18+)
- An estimated 5.4%-37.6% of all adolescent girls experience physical violence while pregnant or during the year preceding delivery.
- 50-75% of women abused before pregnancy are abused during pregnancy.
- Homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women in the United States.
The Mommy Mentoring Academy will provide healthy relationship training, and life skill support for first-time pregnant teens aged 13-24.
Mommy Mentoring Academy
This program exposes youth and young adults to a positive role model
Helps to focus mentees on their future and on setting academic and career goals
Exposes mentees to new experiences and people from diverse cultural, socio-economic, and professional backgrounds
Provides mentees with attention and a concerned friend
Encourages emotional and social growth
Fosters increased confidence and self-esteem
Referrals to the Mommy Mentoring Academy will come from self-referral community partners, schools, and health care providers and health departments.
Become A Volunteer Mommy Mentor
THE ROLE OF A MOMMY MENTOR
The young people of today must cope with far more personal and social pressures than any other previous generation of youth. Early intervention through a structured mentor relationship may be able to give young people the tools and support they need to deal effectively with these pressures. Understanding the many social, psychological, and physical demands that the youth face is extremely important for any individual about to undertake the task of being a mommy mentor.
Mentors’ roles fall into five categories:
Providing prenatal and postpartum educational pregnancy mentoring support
Providing academic help and tutoring
Providing career exploration assistance
Providing emotional support
Providing social experiences
Mommy mentors must be willing to meet twice a week with their mentees with one of those meetings being an in person cohort group mentoring held weekly. Mentors must complete mandatory training and be able to pass a level 2 background check. Click the link below to become a mentor.
