Break the Cycle Helps Teens ‘Let Their Hearts Rule’ During Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
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Teen dating violence is an urgent, silent epidemic. One in three teens will experience abuse in a dating relationship and more than two-thirds of them will never report the abuse to an adult or person in authority.
Since 2010, Break the Cycle has served as the non-profit sponsor and hub for Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Month, a national effort to raise awareness about abuse occurring in teen and young adult relationships each February. Our aim is a simple three-prong approach: Activate the youth voice, provide resources to parents, educators and community leaders and create a network of service providers and advocates to promote local/state efforts during the month.
As a leading national voice in this movement, we are in a unique position to bring together the federal government, non-profit agencies, local service providers, corporate influencers and youth from across the country – all to highlight the need to educate young people about relationships, teach healthy relationship skills and prevent the devastating cycle of abuse.
To achieve this aim, we established two unique websites to promote the month: our hub, TeenDVMonth.org, and our annual youth-targeted public campaign, Let Your Heart Rule.
Over the past two years, those efforts have resulted in:
- Over 30 violence prevention agencies partnering for the month
- Promotion of over 300 events and government proclamations, including one from President Barack Obama in 2012
- Created PSA videos in partnership with the White House and the US Department of Education that have been viewed over 30,000 times
- Launched a national forum to advocate for policy change that will protect all citizens from abuse
- While TeenDVMonth.org has united service providers, law enforcement, and advocates at all levels nationwide, our “Let Your Heart Rule” campaign has made its mark on the young adult community. Break the Cycle uses this campaign to provide schools with vital resources and engage youth to take a direct stand against violence.
Since its launch in 2011, the campaign has:
- Provided over 750 schools with print materials, educational resources and tips on raising awareness
- Promoted Teen DV Month via our “National School Announcement” – read by students over PA systems annually on February 14.
- Created a nationally-aired PSA
- Held a national PSA contest for young filmmakers, the winning effort having been viewed over 10,000 times.
While some of these numbers may not seem as high as other “issue”-related organizations – they represent a tremendous growth in the general public’s awareness of dating abuse. We have experienced over 400% growth in social media each of the past three years.
For many young people, Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Month is the only opportunity they will have to openly discuss dating violence. While many conversations and action steps have been taken for other issues that plague our youth, dating violence is a silent epidemic. Break the Cycle’s efforts have successfully raised awareness and provided help to millions of young people looking for answers.
More About This Charity
Region
West
Category
Human Services
Name
Break the Cycle
Mission
Break the Cycle believes everyone has the right to safe and healthy relationships. We are the leading, national nonprofit organization addressing teen dating violence. We work every day towards our mission to engage, educate and empower youth to build lives and communities free from domestic violence.
Impact
- This charity raised $1,768,800 in the past year
- This Achievement helped 2,000,000 people
- This charity helped 2,450,000 people in the past year
- Directly reached over 2 million youth in 2011 and 2012 with vital information about dating abuse
Works In
United States, Canada
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Who’s Involved
