Youth initiatives and events

Below are a few of the Youth Team’s past and current projects:

PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH PROJECTS
To know how to address and prevent teen dating violence, we have to know what it looks like, how it affects the community, and what local community members think about the issue.  Participatory research projects allow local community members to decide what they want to learn about the community, develop the questions they want to ask, implement the project, and analyze the results in a way that is helpful and motivates them to further action.

Thus far, the Close to Home Youth Team has participated in the following research projects:

• How to Help Peers in Dating Violence Relationships: Youth Team members decided to ask their peers how they would handle dating violence situations, and what they think others can do to help friends caught in a violent relationship.  Team members then took those answers and developed the Safe Love Brochure for other teens to learn about how to help friends in violent relationships.

• Street Hollering Research Project: Because teen dating violence is an issue informed by preconceived gender norms, it has many ties to street hollering (i.e. the act of trying to pick someone up or flirt with them on the street).  Team members wanted to research more about street hollering and find out what people are saying to others on the streets, why they holler at other people, and how people feel about getting hollered at.  The findings of this research project were made into a presentation for our 2006 Acting Out Against Teen Dating Violence.

Research projects have become a core part of the Youth Team program because we recognize that the community, and how teen dating violence plays out in it, is constantly changing.  Please check this site regularly for more information on future research projects!

PEER LED TRAININGS
Youth Team members understand that their peers need more information on teen dating violence, and to that end, have created a training for other community youth groups.  These trainings are created and presented by Team members to help their peers understand what teen dating violence looks like, how to stay safe from it, what available resources are, how to reach out to a friend who may be in an abusive relationship, and what healthy relationships look like.  For more information on these trainings or to arrange for the Youth Team to do a presentation for your local youth group, please contact Close to Home at 617.929.5151.

YOUTH DIGITAL STORIES
Youth Team members are harnessing the creative power behind digital storytelling to spread awareness and send a message to other youth in the community about teen dating violence.  Digital stories are short multi-media videos—using music, pictures, and voice—created by an individual to share their personal experiences and viewpoints on dating and domestic violence.  Youth Team members have created and are constantly adding to a collection of powerful digital stories that they’ve created to share their opinions on teen dating violence with the local community.  To get more information and to view some digital stories, please visit the Close to Home Digital Storytelling Collection. 

EVENTS
The Close to Home Youth Team partakes in fun, community-building activities focused not only on raising awareness of domestic violence, but also on getting to know one another, building strong, meaningful relationships and connections, and helping keep one another safe.  Below are some examples of these types of community-building activities.

• Holiday Carolling: Every December, Close to Home Youth Team members and volunteers conduct an evening of holiday caroling in the community.  In addition to sharing songs with one another and reaching out to neighbors in the spirit of goodwill and celebration, we pass out caroling booklets containing information on community safety and resources.

• Dorchester Day Parade: The Dorchester Day Parade is a beloved community festival more than 100 years old that pulls together neighbors, families, and community leaders together to celebrate Dorchester.  During this tradition, Close to Home Youth Team members and volunteers ride a parade float and pass out information and giveaways to parade-goers.

• Acting Out Against Teen Dating Violence: Acting Out Against Teen Dating Violence is the annual showcase of the Close to Youth Team.  For this evening, Team members write and perform skits on dating and domestic violence, view digital stories with audience members, and share the findings of their latest research project.  Acting Out Against Teen Dating Violence not only helps the Youth Team reach out to other youth, it also encourages community leaders, adult residents, and families to attend, bringing everyone together to help us realize that we all have a part to play–no matter what age–in preventing teen dating violence.

TEEN LIFE
Teen Life is the quarterly newsletter published by the Close to Home Youth Team.  In it are articles, stories, and helpful information written by other team members for other youth on dating and domestic violence.  Teen Life is distributed to local youth groups and through social networks.  To view the first edition of Teen Life, please visit the Tools and Resources featured below.

YOUTH TEAM MYSPACE PAGE
Recognizing and working off of the new trends in youth culture, the Close Youth Team has created a MySpace site in which teens can log on, learn about domestic violence, get information on how teens are getting involved in domestic violence prevention, and converse with other youth on what they think about teen dating violence and how it affects their lives.  We hope that this My Space page will encourage youth to start having conversations about this issue, and will let them share their opinions in a safe, comfortable way.  The Close to Home Youth Team is continuing to develop the content on the page, so be sure to check it often for updates on our projects and upcoming events.  To visit our MySpace page now, click here.