New effort under way to engage men in prevention
If we want to eliminate domestic violence from our community, it must involve everyone - both men and women.
It is with this in mind that Tillamook County Women's Resource Center is working to incorporate more men into discussions of the issue and its solution.
To help develop and implement a program to reach out to young men and adults throughout the county, we are applying for a two-year Department of Justice grant to fund outreach and education. If the grant application is successful, our plan is to roll out a major public awareness effort among men countywide.
However, men in our community are already taking leadership on the subject. Momentum began building in 2010, when a group of men who attended our Imagine No Violence Summit expressed an interest in meeting to look at ways to help change some of the elements of our culture that help perpetuate violence.
Leading that group is Tillamook County Justice Court Judge Neal Lemery.
"Our wish is to work with kids from the Tillamook Options Program, which has a group of young men who meet weekly," he explained.
Several members of Lemery's group met with a ninth-grade representative of the TOPS group to discuss the idea.
"The young man was very supportive," Lemery reported. "He believes it is important for young men to talk about the impact of violence and alternatives to violence.
"Our hope is to use these meetings to talk about feelings, perhaps find service projects the young men can get involved in. We want to bring in speakers on leadership, stopping rape, things like that. We want to engage the kids and give them an outlet so they can make changes in their lives."
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