VAWnet News Blog

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness & Prevention Month (TDVAM). This issue of the PreventIPV newsletter features tools that center and celebrate the leadership of youth, especially Black girls. It includes resources to promote youth activism and young people's well-being by building connected communities that foster resilience, joy, and transformative action.

Today CDC released, Vital Signs: Prevalence of Multiple Forms of Violence and Increased Health Risk Behaviors and Conditions Among Youths — United States, 2019. Preventing violence is key to promoting teen and adult health. Violence can affect teens’ health and increase the chance of developing cancer, heart disease, or other health problems in adulthood.

Though the crises of this moment are urgent, the moment is ripe for transformation. At the NRCDV, we remain committed to transforming how we approach our work to eliminate violence in all its forms, including economic, gendered, and racialized violence.

In our February TA Question of the Month, guest writer Arlene Snyder from Bridge Over Troubled Waters discusses housing instability and homelessness among youth and offers strategies for trauma-informed care.

"Over a 10-year period ending in 2018 in Nome, there were 432 reports of sexual assault. Of those, Nome Police made 45 arrests, and so far there have been even fewer convictions. Some Alaska Native survivors say those statistics don’t surprise them and that law enforcement has prioritized other crimes, but not sexual assault — especially when survivors are Native."

The order is the culmination of years of efforts by activists and advocacy organizations, who have long urged Puerto Rico's government to take action against gender-based violence.