People associate the Houston Area Women’s Center with domestic and sexual violence and while our mission continues to be to “End domestic and sexual violence for ALL”, we recognize that prevention is more than just talking about it. While our prevention team educates community members on what domestic violence and sexual violence is and how it impacts the community, they are also working with communities themselves to address some of the core factors of violence.

Often times organizations come in with the idea that “they” know what the community needs, when in reality the only people who know what they’re needing are those who live in the community. One way our team has been doing this in the Magnolia Park/Manchester community, a predominately Hispanic/Latinx community, is through meeting with community members and leaders to get an understanding of what’s happening in the community.

We are also working with community schools to recruit students who want to impact their community and receive evidence-based prevention curriculum. The Be Strong curriculum works with young women to encourage empowerment, healthy boundaries and community involvement. The Live Respect Curriculum focuses on young men and challenges their concepts of masculinity and respect.

We are also working in establishing a student and adult advisory board, to give us insight on what the community needs are. Since both groups will be made up of community members, we will ensure the voices of those we’re hearing are voices from the community. In addition, youth participating in Be Strong, Live Respect and the Student Advisory Board will be able to match with a mentor from the Magnolia Park/Manchester Committee. Mentors will be identified through the Adult Advisory Board members, community leaders and interested community partners.

Most recently we have collaborated with the Magnolia Park Dia de los Muertos event. During the event, we will be hosting an art competition with the theme “Celebrating Life” and highlighting the lives of those who were killed as a result of domestic and sexual violence. By participating in community events like these, we are recognizing the importance of the events to the community, as well as providing resources that perhaps the community was not aware of previously. Through supporting community voices, we are able to identify needs within the community so we can focus on community activism and therefore create an environment without violence.