Today we spoke with: Mary-Jane Foster, President and CEO of Interval House, Sam Gray, President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club and Sunindiya Bhalla, Executive Vice President of Roca.
HARTFORD ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP TO PROMOTE HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS FOR HARTFORD YOUTH
Mayor Bronin joined Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Interval House, the Boys & Girls Club, ROCA, Police Chief Jason Thody, and Department of Families, Children, Youth and Recreation Director Kristina Baldwin to announce a new partnership to train youth providers in ways to educate young people regarding healthy relationships. This partnership aims to provide early education on what healthy relationships look like, and how young people can recognize the signs of and escape relationships that are toxic, unhealthy, or unsafe.
As part of this partnership, Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV) will provide specialized training to the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford’s staff through their Healthy Relationships curriculum. Hartford’s Department of Families, Children, Youth and Recreation 60+ recreation assistants will also receive training from CCADV. Interval House will also directly educate Hartford youth about healthy relationships and how to recognize warning signs for relationships that could lead to violence.
“We’ve seen too many tragedies related to intimate partner violence, not just here in Hartford but around the state,” said Mayor Bronin. “We want people to know that there are resources out there to provide refuge and support for victims, but we also want to do more to break this cycle of domestic violence. After speaking with CCADV, Interval House, and the Boys and Girls Club, we came together to create this partnership, because it’s so important that young people are able to see the warning signs and recognize the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, both for themselves and for their family members. We’re going to keep working to expand this effort, but I’m grateful to our partners for coming together in this new way, and we hope it will help more people avoid the trap of intimate partner violence and keep themselves and others safe.”
“I cannot tell you how significant this initiative is for breaking and ending the cycle of intimate abuse,” said Mary-Jane Foster, President and CEO of Interval House. “We know that intimate partner violence has a pattern. It has a series of behaviors, so it’s predictable what will happen, and if it’s predictable, it’s preventable - and we know that we can prevent it by reaching kids when they’re young to educate them about healthy relationships and warning signs of an unhealthy relationship. Through this partnership, we are going to reach thousands of Hartford kids, and we cannot wait to get started.”
“The Boys and Girls Club is a second home for the thousands of young people who walk through our doors, and we want to ensure every kid can build a strong, successful future.” said Sam Gray, President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club. “To do that, we need to make sure they’re equipped to understand what healthy relationships look like, and our staff being trained through this partnership will make a real difference in helping every kid build bright futures.”
“We’re proud to be part of this partnership that will train Hartford youth and youth-serving providers about healthy relationships and the resources that they can use when they need help,” said Meghan Scanlon, President and CEO of CCADV. “A significant majority of deadly incidents of partner violence were witnessed by children six years old or younger, and imagine what that does to young people. With this partnership, we can model healthy behavior and partnerships for children.”
“I want to thank Interval House and CCADV and all of the advocates who do this work every day,” said Kristina Baldwin, DFCYR Director. “We are proud to partner with them and train our recreation assistants to be able to educate the thousands of young people we serve about how they can build and recognize healthy relationships, because stopping these cycles of partner violence starts with our young people.”
The City currently has an existing partnership with Interval House, which placed an embedded advocate in the Police Department who sits down with detectives in the Department’s Domestic Violence unit to help coordinate a follow-up strategy, whether that means encouraging victims to change locks or providing legal status updates for victims.
“We usually have one or two or three calls that may seem minor in the beginning, but as we’ve seen, they escalate and can turn fatal, so we’re grateful for the partnership we have with Interval House that allow us to dig deeper and provide more specialized care and follow-up,” said Chief of Police Jason Thody. “This partnership will educate kids on the many signs that lead up to incidents of intimate partner violence, and it will also teach them about how to utilize the many resources that are available in our community. As a police department, we are committed to continuing to find ways to interrupt this cycle of domestic violence, and we’re proud to have partners that are equally committed to that effort.”
The City has, in recent years, also built a partnership with Roca, which does work to help young mothers between 14-24 who are oftentimes the victims of domestic violence. Over 60% of the young mothers who work with Roca have experienced intimate partner violence at least once.
"The well-being of young mothers and their children is at stake, and we are grateful for this effort to help young children recognize unhealthy relationships and stop the cycle, and in the interim, we are committed to working with everyone here to continue to support young women who are at the center of violence,” said Sunindiya Bhalla, Executive Vice President of Roca.
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iHeartCommunities "Community Access" Radio is a weekly syndicated hour long talk show on all Connecticut iHeartRadio stations. Our mission is to serve and inform the CT audience about community events, programs, fundraisers & causes. Reaching over 1.8 million households in the state, this is the most listened to and trusted community program in the state! Locally written & produced.
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