Thursday, August 7, 2008

YWCA Week Without Violence

Week Without Violence is October 19-25

This year’s WWV theme will be “ENOUGH!” YWCA USA’s Week Without Violence website is a great place to start gathering information. You can also place a link directly to it from your home page. Look for more information from YWCA USA in your inbox in coming weeks.

On Monday August 4th, 15 YWCA staffers from 10 GLA YWCAs joined a “Week Without Violence Planning and Sharing” conference call. The result of their collective wisdom is a giant list of activity ideas and resources that can be replicated to suit a range of audience and community needs.

We want to know what you’re doing to observe Week Without Violence! Visit the GLA Advocacy Blog to post a comment in the Week Without Violence post about your activities.

Week Without Violence Topic Areas

  • Bullying
  • Child Abuse
  • Domestic Violence
  • Gang Violence
  • Hate Crimes
  • Healing
  • International Violence Against Women Issues
  • Peace
  • Racial Injustice
  • Safety
  • Sexual Assault
  • Stalking
  • Trafficking

Activities for Communities

  • Radio and TV PSAs/ announcements about WWV Topics
  • Peace Picnic
  • Pancakes for Peace breakfast with tabling/ children’s activities/ etc.
  • Peace Garden
  • Peace Walk/ Unity Walk—like a peaceful protest march. In “Unity Walk” community members begin a separate places in different parts of town and converge in the middle for a shared celebration.
  • Candlelight Vigils to honor victims and survivors of violence
  • A community –wide “Gun turn-in program” where individuals may turn in weapons with no questions asked; organized in partnership with local law enforcement and city/ county officials
  • Clothesline project and “letters to abusers” displays
  • Make displays about non-violence for your YWCA lobby or traveling displays for tabling events
  • Provide voter information throughout WWV events and activities, including information on early voting, voting safely for survivors of domestic violence, and postcards to remind community members that November 4th is election day.

Activities aimed at youth/ young children

  • Reading books about peace and safety at local libraries and pre-schools (examples “Hands are not for Hitting” and “The Peace Book”)
  • Partnering with schools doing “Red Ribbon Week” campaigns (often the same week) to discuss how themes of violence relate to drug and alcohol use
  • Focusing on bullying
  • Art contest “When I’m Angry;” winner’s art is used on next year’s poster/ brochure
  • High School Essay contest on Racial Justice relating to WWV topics. Prizes for top essays; winner will be published in local newspaper
  • Peace pledges for school aged kids (see St. Louis Institute of Peace and Justice for examples)
  • Organize a finger print clinic with local law enforcement—provides a finger print record for families
  • Violent Toy turn-in Drive: kids turn in violent toys and receive peaceful toys in exchange

Activities for College Audiences

  • Take Back the Night
  • Movie night (examples:”Waitress,” “Batterers Will Kill” from YWCA Cincinnati)
  • Theater performances
  • Host a guest speaker on a related topic (example TJ Leyden, former white supremacist who speaks on hate/ tolerance issues)
  • “Chalk the Quad”: Students chalk messages about peace/ violence against women/ etc. at the center of campus

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