At The Blue Bench, we believe that how we educate our youth today is the basis for how we, as a community, respond to sexual violence tomorrow.
The goal of sexual violence prevention education is to stop sexual violence from occurring. This means we need to address contributing factors at every level – individual, relationship, community, and society. The Blue Bench provides Community Education programming to ensure community members are empowered to intervene in risky or sexually violent situations, support survivors, and change social norms that blame, silence, or minimize the impacts of sexual assault.
Fostering a healthy community is not just about providing support in the aftermath of an assault; it’s about supporting the healthy emotional development of those who make up our community.
Community Prevention Education is:
- The recognition that we all have a role in creating a healthy community free from sexual violence.
- Teaching children about consent and healthy relationships from a young age.
- Training community members to identify and challenge victim blaming and rape culture.
- Empowering community members to start by believing, and to use survivor-centered responses when confronting sexual violence.
- Promoting confidence to intervene in situations and conversations that promote sexual violence.
