To learn more about any activity ideas, click the headings below!
Overview Bake sales are an easy way to fundraise within your school or community. They involve buying or making food and desserts to sell. Make sure to ask permission and be sure it’s okay to bring in the food you are going to sell.
How? Work with your school’s administration to work out a time, date and location for your bake sale. If this is part of your club, at a club meeting, provide a signup sheet to bring desserts for a bake sale after school and another signup sheet for students to help sell and serve the food. If you are raising money, be sure to identify what you are raising the funds for. You can raise money for a domestic violence center or for your clubs future activities. Advertise your bake sale around your school and community.
Overview A poetry reading can be a great way to raise awareness on the issue of your choice. In a poetry reading, you can let youth read aloud poems written by themselves, by famous authors, or other poems that you find that relate to the issue you are looking to raise awareness about.
How? You will first need decide on a date and time for your event and secure a location for this poetry reading. Depending on how many people you think will attend, you could have it at school, in a park, at a community center. Allow opportunities for students to sign up to read a poem. You could come up with a list of potential poems to be read to give to readers, or have students write the poetry themselves. If you chose, you can have a judging panel, and chose a winner. Maybe you could even have a prize to give away or hold a raffle. Advertise the event around your school or community.
Overview Benefit concerts are another great way to both raise awareness and fundraise, at the same time. A successful benefit concert includes a focus on teen dating violence, but also on the music.
How? To organize a benefit concert, the first thing you should do is to find a location to hold the event and brainstorm possible bands that may be willing to play. Once you have options, pick your location, and a day and time that is convenient for your audience. Talk to the people working at your venue to see if there is any insurance or police needed at the event. Book your musical performances. Then decide whether you can offer this for free or if you need to charge, you will have to decide the price of tickets that is reasonable for your audience and will cover costs if you have costs for the band and/or location. You should then advertise the event around your school and community.
Overview Bracelets, when well designed, can be a good way to continually spread a message, and can raise funds for your cause. You can make them a certain color to match a theme, put words on them, etc.
How? To sell bracelets, you have to figure out how many bracelets you want and how much they are going to cost. You must then decide whether you want to order the bracelets, or to make them yourself. If you decide to make them by hand, make sure to get your friends or club members to help you. Most likely you will want to get permission from your school and find a time and date to sell the bracelets. Make sure to advertise!
Overview Clothesline projects traditionally involve T-Shirts on a clothesline, decorated by people in memoriam of women who have fallen victim to Domestic Violence. This, however, can be adapted to fit a teen dating violence project.
How? In a clothesline project, you would provide t-shirts, paint or decorating supplies and a clothesline to hang them on. This is usually done in a place where other people will walk by and see them.
Overview Assemblies are a great way to reach many students at once, and typically involve a guest speaker coming and educating students at your school.
How? Research potential speakers, possibly from your local Domestic Violence Agency. You should generally email them, expressing your interest and finding out their price and potential dates. You can then talk to your school’s administration. If you need help working with the administration, a teacher advisor or sponsor can always help you. Once you get administration’s approval, confirm a time with your speaker, and organize the assembly. If the assembly is during school hours, make sure that people will be able to go. You may need assistance from an adult to help ensure that teachers are aware and are allowing their students to come.
Overview There are multitudes of ways that you can organize an awareness day; however, the basic purpose is to dedicate a day to raising awareness to teen dating violence. On an awareness day, you can tell students to wear a certain color, provide ribbons, make cut-out hands, sell cookies with a message, or anything. The possibilities are endless.
How? As there are so many ways you could have an awareness day, there is no formula for creating an effective day. Use your creativity to come up with ways to educate your peers on the dangers of abusive relationships.
Overview Getting involved in legislature is a great way to change some of the institutional problems you see occurring in your school, community, or city every day.
How? In your club, a great way to support policy change is to get everyone to send a letter to your senator/representative. The more people you get to send the letter, the bigger the message you get across. You can also pre write letters, and give people copies to sign.
Overview Art is a great way for youth to express themselves, and is an effective mechanism for change. An art show can educate other students on the issue, and also help the artists get a better understanding of what teen dating violence really is.
How? In holding an art show, you should think about potential locations; this could include a school library, a hallway, a community center, or where ever you can effectively display the art and express your message. Work with your school administration, if at the school, or anyone in charge of the space. If you are holding this event with your club, your club advisor can always help with the administration. Once your space is secured, talk to your school art teacher, and see if they would be willing to get their students to make art for the art show. Advertise around the school/community, and open up submissions. Make a program to the art, and if you are judging the art, find credible judges. Set up a specific time to have the art showcased and to do judging, and provide refreshments for visitors, although you can leave the art up after the show.
Overview Film festivals can show in action the dangers of teen dating violence in a creative way, and can effectively get your audience thinking about the issues at hand. A film festival can showcase the works of students and teens, relating to the issue of teen dating violence.
How? You can organize a film festival by first coming up with a plan of what you want to do. Put into consideration a venue, how long you want your films to be, who is eligible to enter, and when you would like the event to occur. Once you have a pretty good idea of what you are going to do, approach a school administrator if the festival will occur at your school, or the manager of the venue of your choice. As this is occurring, open up submissions for entries if you are having students make the films. You could offer a prize for the winner of the film contest as incentive for entries. Before the event, consider fundraising methods. Do you want to sell food? Take donations? Charge admission? Also, don’t forget to advertise your event around your school. You have an opportunity to reach people, and you want to make sure that every interested knows about the event.
Overview Showing a movie can be a successful way to spread awareness and fundraise, while keeping your audience entertained.
How? When planning a movie showing, it is important to come up with a plan of what you want to do. Think about possible venues and movies. Possible venues could include a school auditorium or a local theater. Talk to your school’s administration about possibilities if you want it to be held at your school, or contact owners of a local movie venue. Make sure that you have a date in mind for the event before you start planning. Once you have everything set, pick a movie and make sure that your venue is able to play it. See the list of potential movies. Also, think about snacks. Do you want to sell food and use the money to donate? Or do you want to offer food and suggest donations? Are you going to sell tickets? Closer to the event, you should start posting flyers and advertising for your event.
Potential Movies
What a Girl Wants
Killing Us Softly 3
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes
I am a Man: Black Masculinity in America
Girls Moving Beyond Myth
Silence Speaks
Overview Using ribbons to get your message across is an effective way to show how students are united for a cause.
How? Provide or sell ribbons to students or members of your community, and dedicate a special day or week to wearing them. Along with the ribbons, you can provide activities and educational materials while they are being worn, to further educate fellow teens.
Overview Peer groups are often effective in educating teens on the dangers of abusive relationships in an environment where everyone is comfortable. Peer groups usually involve a small group of students with a teen facilitator and/or an adult facilitator, learning about and discussing healthy relationships and abusive ones.
How? If you are in a club, get members to participate and set a date. If you are not in a club, you will need to get approval from your school to hold a peer group. Ask a trusted adult to support you and help you to find a location and a time to hold a peer group. Next you may want to think about who your audience will be for this. This is usually a smaller group of 15 people or less. You can post flyers around your school to gain interest and invite others to join.