E-Newsletter Fall 2006For all media inquiries, please contact 310.286.3383 or media@breakthecycle.org. Message from the Executive DirectorOur second annual Savor the Season event in Los Angeles was a huge success! Guests enjoyed fabulous food and great entertainment while supporting Break the Cycle’s important work with teens nationwide. I had the opportunity to say a few words at the event which I would like to share with you here: Thank you for joining us at Break the Cycle’s Savor the Season 2006. I am so glad you are here tonight to help us celebrate 10 years of promoting the health and protecting the rights of young people. I want to take a moment to thank the generous sponsors of tonight’s event:
We are so grateful for your support. Break the Cycle engages, educates and empowers youth to build lives and communities free from domestic and dating violence. We educate teens about healthy relationships to help them avoid ever experiencing abuse. We provide help to young people already in need or in danger. We work to effect policy change that provides greater protections to young people experiencing abuse. And we create leadership opportunities for youth to become activists and help build a world without domestic violence. In our first decade we reached over 80,000 youth with our programs and services. We are now launching programs that will enable us to reach many multiples of that number. In fact, I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge two of our leading partners in these new programs, Verizon and Blue Shield of California, who have provided critical funding and visionary support for our interactive DVD curriculum. I am so proud of the work that Break the Cycle does and the accomplishments we have had. And this work would not be possible without the support of you, our friends in the community. I am also privileged to work with a wonderful Board of Directors, terrific volunteers and interns, and the smartest, most passionate and committed staff an executive director could dream of. Liz Claiborne, the corporation that we are proudly honoring this evening, recently commissioned a study which found that teens are accepting abusive behavior as a normal part of their relationships. They think it’s normal for relationships to involve extreme jealousy, isolation and control. They think it’s normal when the person they are dating makes them feel bad about themselves, worried or in fear. They don’t know that they deserve better. We at Break the Cycle help them understand that a healthy relationship should make them feel like more, not less. Make them feel stronger, not weaker. More confident and better about themselves, not insecure and afraid. This is what they deserve. We help them recognize they have the right to a safe and healthy relationship, free from violence and free from fear. I thank you for joining us. Search the Internet and Support Break the CycleGoodSearch is partnering with Yahoo! to provide a search engine that benefits your favorite charity – every time you surf the web! It’s simple:
Each time you use GoodSearch as your search engine, you help raise money for Break the Cycle. Spread the news about GoodSearch with your friends, family and colleagues. The more people searching the web, the more funds Break the Cycle receives. Search and support today… GoodSearch! Get Involved! New Youth Voices Program in High SchoolsBreak the Cycle has a new way of getting teens in Los Angeles active around the issue of dating violence. Beginning this fall, our Youth Voices program will be in partnership with high schools classes and youth groups. We modeled this new program after our highly successful Youth Voices program in Washington, DC, which partners with three different groups of youth at Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School. In Los Angeles, the Peer Helpers class at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) and the TeenSMART program at Asian Pacific Health Care Venture have already agreed to partner with us this fall. Break the Cycle will provide ongoing support and training for the youth participants at LACES and TeenSMART. Each program will then develop and implement an action, education or outreach project in their community. With these partnerships, Break the Cycle will be able to engage more high school students in the fight against dating and domestic violence. But, we need your help! Will you:
If you want to get involved and support our Youth Voices program, contact Liza Lorenz at liza.lorenz@breakthecycle.org. Take Action: Appropriations AlertWith widespread national support, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was expanded earlier this year, focusing resources on providing protections and justice for young victims of violence. Young people across America experience violence at inordinately high rates and often face unique barriers in getting help to address it.
This summer, the House passed an amendment to the Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2007 that provides $4 million in funding for new VAWA programs targeting youth. These critical resources will help children and youth who have witnessed domestic violence and those who have experienced it in their own relationships through grants to Assist Children and Youth Exposed to Violence – “Children Exposed” and Services to Advocate for and Respond to Youth – “STARY”). Learn more about these programs. The Appropriations bill will be taken up in the Senate in September. The Senate bill currently has no funding for specialized services to children, teens and young adults experiencing domestic or sexual violence. What You Can Do:Contact your Senators at 202-225-3121 or click here to locate your Senator. Ask them to support amendments that would fund these crucial programs. Tell them:
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