One-in-four women, one-in-seven men, and one-in-three gender nonconforming individuals will experience relationship violence in their lifetime. Think of fifteen people you know, and imagine three of them being victims of years-long patterns of control and abuse… patterns that will eventually erupt in physical violence.
This is a real problem that affects far too many people…but it’s preventable.
That’s why we’ve created a free experience that prevents violent relationships from ever forming. We provide these experiences for high school seniors – often in their government class. The experience includes a guide that discusses the myths of relationship violence, signs a relationship isn’t what it seems, and resources to get help. We’ve included some of that material here as well.
We’re just one organization though, which is why we’re taking part in National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Month. Working with other organizations allows us to get more done and reach more people as we work to prevent violent relationships from forming.
Prevention-Through-Education
Like many awareness and prevention months, this month has a color – orange – and that brings up the first way you can help prevent violent relationships from forming.
On February 10, 2023 you can raise awareness about the problem of relationship violence and the experiences we provide for free to prevent it. All you have to do is wear something orange. When people ask you why you – and so many other people – are wearing orange, you can explain you’re creating awareness about how teen dating violence can be prevented through education, and then direct them to this page (https://projectrealnv.org/teendating) where they’ll find the same information you’re about to encounter.
Bring Prevention Into Nevada’s Classrooms
On this site we’ve linked to a publication we created that will help young adults understand the myths about dating violence, the true challenges of escaping a violent relationship, and why so many people find themselves in violent relationships to begin with. If you end up reading it, that’s great, but we know that most teens won’t just read it on their own out of curiosity.
That’s why we need your help.
We offer a 2-class period / single-block-period experience that ensures our work preventing relationship violence has a maximum impact. This experience is open to anyone, though we typically deliver it to Government/Econ classes. Students first spend 45-55 minutes listening to our guest speak tell them a story illustrates how anyone can be a victim – or perpetrator – of relationship violence.
While we work tirelessly to connect with school administrators and the government instructors we hope to partner with, often times we come off as sales people and so our message does not get through. This is where you can help:
Whether you’re a teacher who contacts us directly, a school administrator willing to set up a call or a meeting, a parent who wants to help connect us with your students’ instructors, or a student that’s partnered with an advisor, we need your assistance simply bringing our free experience to the attention of the administrators and teachers at the school that’s important to you.
To get started, please contact our Senior Director to let us know who you are and what school you’re contacting us about, and we’ll take things on from there.* He can be reached at either of these points of contact:
In this section we’ve provided a free digital guide that myth-busts common misconceptions that lead to people ending up in violent relationships. Those common misunderstandings contribute greatly to avoidable relationship risk-taking that often times lead to years of suffering, abuse, and even death.
Though we call it a guide, it’s actually just one chapter from Independence & You: a 190-page guide to over 300 ways laws shape the lives of 18-25 year old students. We print thousands of copies of Independence & You each year, and provide printed copies to every high school student that takes part in our Teen Dating Violence Prevention experience – all for free. You can view the full guides here.
If you’re willing to help spread awareness online, we’d really appreciate it!
Please click the English or Spanish language image-spread below to download a pack of 10 images we created to help introduce Nevadans to the resources and experiences we offer.
Please use them throughout the month of February across any social media platforms you use, linking back to this site so we can connect our resources with as many people as possible.
If you came to this site recognizing you might be in a dangerous situation, we’re here to help.
It’s important for you to understand that your online and phone activity can be tracked without your knowledge: don’t panic though!
Option 1: Call 911
If you’re in immediate danger, please just call 911 and seek assistance
Option 2: Call 211
If you don’t feel you’re in immediate danger but are concerned about your safety due to a situation with a relationship you have, you should consider calling 211. This is a phenomenal resource that helps people find ways to pay utility bills, deal with rental assistance, transportation guidance, and more!
The ‘and more’ part includes the fact that they can forward your call to a local relationship violence hotline – putting you directly in touch with experts. The trick here is that by calling 211, your phone won’t have a relationship violence agency’s phone number in your call history. It’s a safe way to get in touch.
Option 3: Call Us
If you don’t have access to a friend’s phone or even the phone of a stranger, you can call us and ask for a referral. If you look at the rest of our site, you’ll see relationship-violence-prevention appears to be a small part of what we do. That should provide you some cover, and we’ll work to put you in touch with a staff member at one of the agencies that can help you directly.
Option 4: Directly contact Relationship Violence Agencies
If you can get to a device the person you’re concerned about has no access to (like a phone at your school or a stranger’s cellphone), you should consider contacting any of these agencies that deal with relationship violence and similar dangerous situations:
Awaken Reno [Faith-based provider] (Trafficking)
http://cssnv.org
(775) 393-9183
Crisis Support Services of Nevada (Sexual Violence)
http://cssnv.org
(775) 221-7600 or text SASS to 839863
Domestic Violence Resource Center (Domestic Violence)
http://domesticviolenceresourcecenter.org
(775) 329-4150
Safe Embrace (Domestic Violence)
http://safeembrace.org
(775) 322-3466
Sierra Community House (Domestic Violence)
http://sierracommunityhouse.org
(800) 736-1060
Cupcake Girls (Trafficking)
http://thecupcakegirls.org
(702) 879-8195
Signs of Hope [formerly Rape Crisis Center] (Sexual Violence)
http://rcclv.org
(702) 366-1640
S.A.F.E. House (Domestic Violence)
http://safehousenv.org
(702) 564-3227
Safe Nest (Domestic Violence)
http://safenest.org
Call or text: (702) 646-4981
Shade Tree (Domestic Violence)
http://theshadetree.org
Call or text: (855) 385-0072
Crisis Support Services (All issues)
http://cssnv.org
1 (800) 273-8255 or text CARE to 839863
Nevada 211 (All Issues)
http://nevada211.org
Dial 211 or text your zip code to 898211
National Human Trafficking Hotline (Trafficking)
http://humantraffickinghotline.org
1 (888) 373-7888 or text 233733
Nevada Coalition to End Domestic & Sexual Violence (All Issues)
http://ncedsv.org
1 (800) 230-1955
Teen dating violence is a problem for everyone to deal with: If we can educate teens about dating violence, we can prevent violent relationships from forming for both teens and adults!
Did you know that the experience Project REAL offers was actually inspired by a law that embodied a few Nevadan teens’ request for schools to teach them about relationship violence? That request – along with our current push for ‘Wear Orange Day’ on February 10th in schools throughout Nevada – were student-driven initiatives, and we’d like to take a moment to explain how young adults in our state have directly contributed to a safer Nevada.
The Experience
In 2017, the Nevada Legislature passed SB108. That bill (now a law) required the Nevada Department of Education to study how it could make learning about laws a graduation requirement for Nevada’s high school seniors. The bill was created by the Nevada Youth Legislature: a two-year program that gives high school students an opportunity to learn about representative government and take an active role in the legislative process. This includes presenting one bill per term to the Nevada Legislature on an issue important to Nevada youth. Interested students may submit an application to represent the senatorial district in which they live or attend high school. Each of Nevada’s 21 state senators appoints a youth legislator to represent his or her senatorial district.
SB108 began as the brainchild of one member of the 2017 Nevada Youth Legislature group in particular. She was determined to find a way to embed education about domestic violence and sexual violence into existing classes in Nevada. Our state has had a history of residents disagreeing on what should be included in health classes, with sex education being a particularly challenging topic to find consensus on. The student responsible – Olivia Yamamoto – had the idea of teaching students about consent, sex crimes, and domestic violence within the context of law rather than health: an approach that she correctly posited could achieve consensus among state legislators and the communities they serve. This led to the idea of requiring certain legal information in required social studies and civics classes.
The Nevada Youth Legislature is a collaborative process, so while Ms. Yamamoto’s idea won out among the many suggestions put forward that year, each student taking part in the group had contributions to make. Collectively, they accurately recognized that the bill would garner more support if it wasn’t focused exclusively on relationship and sex violence laws, but many common laws young adults’ lives are likely to be shaped by.
Our publication ‘Independence & You’ was already in development when SB108 was put forward, and remained in development when the bill passed. Ms. Yamamoto’s original vision stayed with our team members who were developing that publication though. As we determined the best way to get the guides into the hands of Nevada’s students, her idea of focusing on preventing sexual and relationship violence through law-related education stuck with us. Eventually, we tied distribution of the guides with the relationship violence experience we provide today – at no cost to the students, schools, and community groups we serve.
If it’s not already clear, our experience that is serving thousands of students each year was shaped directly by students – students that were asking for the exact kind of learning opportunity we now offer.
Nevada Teens’ Wear Orange Day – February 10, 2023
While we cannot say for certain what the future holds, we can confidently state that our first attempt to promote a Wear Orange Day to bring attention to Teen Dating Violence Prevention work is primarily youth-powered.
In early January 2023, Project REAL reached out to the Nevada Association of Student Councils with a request to connect with their members. Following some conversations, we were allowed to pass a message on to those students: we want each of them to promote a Wear Orange Day at their school on February 10, 2023 as part of our efforts to get relationship violence prevention activities into as many schools in our state as possible.
This is a preventable problem, and Nevada’s teenagers have the power to help address it!
To be clear, this is out-of-step with national efforts. National Wear Orange Day falls on February 12, 2023…a Sunday. To state the obvious, students won’t be in school that day. At Project REAL we believe if this is an issue impacting teens and young adults, than our state’s youth should be given the opportunity to take part in the solution!
If a school you’re familiar with takes part in a Wear Orange Day on February 10, 2023 we hope you realize all Project REAL did was pitch the idea. The participation taking place at the schools will be the direct result of students organizing and promoting the idea.
It All Comes Together
In 2017 the students of the Nevada Youth Legislature asked adults to help prevent crime (and to some degree, relationship and sexual violence in particular) through education. By wearing orange as part of Wear Orange Days at their schools in February 2023, Nevada’s students will again be asking adults to prevent relationship violence through education. This is a youth-powered movement, and we’re overjoyed and honored to be a part of it.
To the students of Nevada who take part, thank you!
