Start Strong Wichita Launches a Communitywide Public Health Effort to Stop Teen Dating Abuse

WICHITA, Kan. – Today Catholic Charities, Inc. – Diocese of Wichita and its partners are launching Start Strong Wichita, as part of the largest national initiative ever funded to target 11- to 14-year-olds to promote safe and healthy relationships and prevent teen dating violence and abuse.  Catholic Charities was chosen as 1 of 11 community organizations nationwide to receive $1 million in funding through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national program, Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships (Start Strong). Beginning today Start Strong Wichita will rally the entire community, including teens, parents, caregivers, educators, and community leaders to build environments that support healthy relationships and ensure violence and abuse are never tolerated.

In 2006, more than 10 percent of all reported domestic violence victims and nearly 50 percent of all reported rape victims in Wichita were under the age of 19. Wichita accounted for 22 percent of all rapes statewide with half of these victims being under age 19. There is a clear need for educational programs and community engagement to reinforce positive teen relationships. Catholic Charities along with partners Wichita Public School District, Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center (WASAC) and Wichita State University Department of Sociology and the Center for Community Support and Research have developed a comprehensive community plan for this 4-year initiative to address the community’s needs.

“We are excited to be launching this project in Wichita and expanding on the work that was started with Choose Respect,” said Nancy Carroll, Start Strong Wichita Project Director and Violence Prevention Coordinator at Catholic Charities Harbor House. “We know what the students can do to impact their environment and look forward to a future where violence and abuse are no longer tolerated.”

Building on the work of Choose Respect and partner projects which include; Wichita Sexual Assault Center’s Sexual Violence Prevention Education and Boys & Girls Club’s Passport to Manhood and Smart Girls, Start Strong Wichita aims to reach 7,750 local teens with Building Healthy Teen Relationship activities.   The vision of Start Strong Wichita is to empower teens age 11 through 14 with healthy relationships through education, peer mentoring and support from other adults, resulting in a decrease of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.  By the end of the initiative, Start Strong Wichita will implement Fourth R curriculum in at least four middle schools and two high schools. The Fourth “R” refers to “relationships” and is considered the other “R” we need to teach besides reading, writing, and arithmetic. 

Expanding recruitment and participation of new youth leaders is a goal of the Start Strong Wichita project. A youth committee is being formed that will be tasked with hands on development and facilitation of the project. Teens will mentor and teach other teens through a variety of mediums such as small and large group facilitation, drama, Web sites, social marketing campaigns on the air and in print. These teens will
receive intense training on teen dating violence and teen sexual assault. This training will assist them in teaching other teens about healthy relationship skills and how to avoid unhealthy relationships. Recruitment of older teens will occur at schools through Choose Respect and youth organizations led by project partners and supporting organizations, including Youth United for Positive Action (YUPA). YUPA has a 10-year history of recruiting high school student leaders; providing training in advocacy and development of school policies and action plans. In addition, teen influencers such as parents, teachers, coaches, and youth program mentors will be recruited and educated to support youth in developing healthy relationships and preventing adolescent dating abuse.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Blue Shield of California Foundation* are investing $18 million in 11 communities across the country to identify and evaluate the most promising pathways to stop dating violence and abuse before it starts.  Through the Start Strong grant provided by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Catholic Charities is working with the Family Violence Prevention Fund to implement the Start Strong model in Wichita. Start Strong combines and expands on innovative strategies in education, policy change, community outreach and social marketing campaigns to empower local teens to develop healthier relationships.

“Teen dating violence is one of the nation’s most serious public health problems. Our health and well-being are critically connected to how we live, work, learn and play,” says James Marks, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Vice President and Director, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Group. “Our goal is to create new comprehensive public health models that can both prevent relationship violence and even more help our young people build healthy, positive relationships and that is why the focus on youth involvement is essential.”

(* Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is funding ten sites around the country and Blue Shield of California Foundation is funding one site in California.)