Grantee Profiles
Youth Radio
Taking on Teen Dating Violence
For the staff at Youth Radio, an incident close to home spurred their decision to create a program on teen dating violence.
One of their receptionists, a teenaged girl, asked her colleagues to say she wasn't there if a certain boy called. She also started wearing sunglasses at the office to hide bruises.
“It hit me that this was happening with teens, not just adults; it was a real issue, and there was no denying it,” said Jacinda Abcarian, managing director of the Oakland-based media production and youth development organization. “The question was: What are we going to do about it?”
With a $150,000 grant from Blue Shield of California Foundation, Youth Radio launched “Youth Sound Off! Dating and Relationships” to draw attention to – and prevent – dating violence among youth ages 14 to 24. “Youth Sound Off!” produces news features, PSAs, and public affairs programming on the topic for national and local broadcasts.
The program also hosts a MySpace page (MySpace.com/L.O.V.E.) and sponsors peer educators to hold workshops in Bay Area high schools. Soon, Youth Radio plans to expand the model to Southern California.
Abcarian hopes the program will break the silence. “Our goal is to make dating violence something that's okay to talk about, so we can put an end to it.”
