In an award ceremony on October 28th held in Boston, Independence House was the recipient of a $10,000 award grant along with eighteen other organizations. The Verizon Foundation targets their philanthropic investments to partners and programs that achieve meaningful outcomes and measurable results in specific areas including education, literacy, domestic violence prevention, healthcare and accessibility, and internet safety.
Four representatives from the agency attended the ceremony including Executive Director Lysetta Hurge-Putnam, Board of Directors Co-President Sandy Cashen, Rape Crisis Program Director Ann Dextraze, and Prevention, Education and Outreach Coordinator, Lauren Titus. The award will help fund the Independence House Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, specific to Barnstable High School and presented through the agency’s Prevention, Education and Outreach program.
The MVP program is an evidence-based curriculum created by Northeastern University’s Sports in Society program. The program educates, raises awareness and inspires leadership for students around preventing violence by being active bystanders. Students participate in a full-day training where they are taught about teen dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment and gender stereotypes. During the training, students participate in facilitated conversations about what they can do to prevent different forms of violence. After completing the training, the students bring the information back to their peers and community by completing awareness campaigns and projects. This year, a big focus will be incorporating technology into completed campaigns and projects.
In the past, students have facilitated workshops around active-bystanders and violence prevention at the Barnstable County Council for Children Youth and Families Summit, created public service announcements aired on BTV and YouTube as well as embody the tools provided during training to be leaders and active bystanders in their school.
If you would like more information about the MVP program, please contact Lauren at ihoutreach@indhouse.net.
Authors bio is coming up shortly.
