so what are you doing again?

one last note for the night and then i will be done. i just need to brag though about what an awesome program i get to work for.

my americorps position is for the community education department of Bronx-Lebanon Hospital in the bronx. i have been assigned to their Start Strong program.

Start Strong is a national initiative that has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 11 different cities across the US (bronx included). The goal of the program is to increase awareness and eduction among 11-14 y.o. tweens about dating violence and healthy relationships. There is also an emphasis on working with community members and parents who are involved with student's daily lives (go to http://www.startstrongteens.org/ for more information).

Each site has to full fill certain requirements--have a teen advisory board, run a Domestic Violence Awareness Month event in october, work with community partners, etc--but largely each site is allowed to pursue their own creative avenues for their community.

For the upcoming year Start Strong Bronx has a handful of exciting projects being launched.

• We have developed a strong partnership with clergy in the bronx and in the month of October each congregation will have a service dedicated completely to healthy families and relationships.
• Start Strong's Teen Advisory Board is doing a performance inspired by personal stories of dating violence in the month of October.
• 5 middle schools in the community have agreed to have Strong Strong come in to do a 21 week curriculum about healthy relationships for their 7th and 8th grade students.

I get to have 2 projects to focus on for the first half of the year:

• Conducting a needs assessment and then implementing necessary programing to a local Boys and Girls Club on the issue of teen dating violence.
• Building collaboration tools and network an already existing teen dating violence program in the bronx community--RAPP (relationship, abuse, prevention program).

“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours." -Cesar Chavez