Community Education Program

Recognizing that the entire community needs to be involved in ending domestic violence, Womenspace provides educational services to community groups, businesses and schools.

Womenspace Schools Program

The Womenspace Schools Program provides presentations in local elementary, middle, and high schools. The program is funded through the Center for Disease Control grant received by Womenspace and seven other local organizations which aim to halt domestic violence.

Using a violence prevention curriculum with a variety of teaching methods, the Schools Program aims to create a safe classroom environment during presentations. Presentations are designed to:

• Provide youth with accurate information about dating and domestic violence
• Provide youth with accurate information about issues of oppression
• Instill general violence-prevention and communication skills
• Teach youth skills to reduce their risk of being abused by or abusing their partners
• Delineate between aggression and assertion
• Discuss healthy relationships
• Discuss gender stereotyping and gender roles and their connections to dating violence
• Discuss issues of power and other forms of oppression in relation to domestic violence
• Enable youth to identify warning signs and abusive patterns
• Aid youth in developing skills for coping with in-home abuse and/or their own violent relationships
• Encourage youth to identify emotions
• Address victim-blaming and self-blaming issues
• Discuss safety planning
• Identify resources available to youth and teach how to access these resources
• Define Womenspace as a youth ally