For Immediate Release
August 25, 2010 Contact: Nicholas Barton
Director of Marketing & Social Media
Owner/Director Prestigious Films
Phone: (316) 990-1315
nbarton@catholiccharitieswichita.org
START STRONG WICHITA presents Rock RESPECT! Sept. 3rd from 6-10 p.m. in Old Town Farm & Art Market to celebrate the launch of their website www.startstrongwichita.org
Catholic Charities Wichita and community partners to produce “ROCK RESPECT” to promote healthy relationships through Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national Start Strong initiative
WICHITA, Kan. – START STRONG WICHITA will be hosting “Rock RESPECT!” to promote the launch of their new website www.startstrongwichita.org. The event will feature six Wichita musical acts, a traveling video game booth, live videography, photography, food, drinks, and dance. The bands include Blake Aaron Guthrie, Rudy Love Jr, The Lost Colors, Colton & Zara, Steady Your Pace, and Behind the Solution. The event will be located at Old Town Farm & Art Market on September 3rd from 6-10 p.m. as part of the First Friday Celebrations. Admission to the event is FREE. Attendees will be asked to visit the website to vote for which musical act best represented START STRONG WICHITA’s Mission. The band with the most votes will have a Music Video produced by local Video Production Company Prestigious Films. The music video will be showcased at an annual Middle School & High School Workshop aimed at teaching Wichita Students how to intervene when friends are in abusive relationships. After the workshops the video will be available for full view on www.startstrongwichita.org
START STRONG WICHITA is proud to partner with several Wichita agencies and groups to make this event possible. Community partners for the event include Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center, The Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA, Wichita Public Schools, WSU Dept. of Sociology, and local businesses including Hartke Records, First Friday, ROK ICT, Prestigious Films, WichitaInPerson, and Cassandra Bryan Design, LLC.
START STRONG WICHITA is a project of Catholic Charities and builds on the existing work of Choose Respect. It is 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 funding through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national program, Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships (www.startstrongteens.org)
The need for substantive prevention work in Wichita is paramount. One in three high school students will be the victim of dating violence before they graduate. 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 website in Wichita,” 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.”
START STRONG WICHITA reaches over 7,750 local teens with Building Healthy Teen Relationship activities with a vision to empower teens age 11 through 14 through education, peer mentoring and support from other adults.
Expanding recruitment and participation for TAP (Teens About Prevention) leaders is a goal of the START STRONG WICHITA project. Teens mentor and teach other teens through a variety of mediums such as small and large group facilitation, live theatre, Art, social marketing campaigns on the air and in print. These teens receive intense training on teen dating violence and teen sexual assault.
“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.”
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About Catholic Charities
Celebrating 65 years of services, Catholic Charities Inc. – Diocese of Wichita meets vital community needs in south central and southeast Kansas through direct services and advocacy. The mission of Catholic Charities is to “demonstrate the Gospel values of love and justice through service, education, advocacy, and collaboration.” As the social service outreach of the Catholic Church, Catholic Charities helps families and individuals in need without regard to religious affiliation. The result is more than 20,000 lives touched with needed encouragement and support each year. Catholic Charities expresses the belief that each person should be “treated equally with respect and compassion” through its programs and services in the areas of counseling, domestic violence, emergency assistance, homelessness, multicultural issues, and senior and disability issues. The agency empowers individuals through education about their personal strengths, rights and options to make informed decisions. Since establishment in 1943, Catholic Charities has remained focused on making a positive difference in the lives of families and individuals. For more information, visit www.catholiccharitieswichita.org.
About Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, we work with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years we’ve brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those we serve. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, we expect to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information visit www.rwjf.org.
