32 APRIL 20 - APRIL 26, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Walk over Brooklyn Bridge brings
awareness to teen dating violence
BY VICTORIA MERLINO
EDITORIAL@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
With signs raised and spirits
high, hundreds of people
marched over the Brooklyn
Bridge to bring awareness to teen
dating violence and advocate for its
end. Organized by Brooklyn nonprofit
the Healing Center, the seventh annual
NYC Teen Dating Violence Awareness
Walk-A-Thon worked to bring
attention to the threat that teens face
through a walk that spanned between
Brooklyn Heights’ Cadman Plaza and
City Hall on April 14.
According to the National Intimate
Partner and Sexual Violence Survey,
between 2012 and 2017, one in four
women and one in nine men were
victims of sexual assault, stalking
or sexual violence. Stephanie Rodriguez,
youth coordinator of the
Healing Center, said that this year's
walk was focused more on the intersection
between dating violence and
other issues currently in the national
consciousness, such as gun violence
and the #MeToo movement.
"It was really great to see many
teens proactive and really engaged in
the topic," Rodriguez said, noting that
teens were much more active in this
year's walk than in previous ones.
"I think youth are starting to
mobilize more," she continued.
"They're realizing their voices
can be heard more."
The walk kicked off with a
rally at Cadman Plaza, gathering
both teen and adult advocates for
speeches from those who have
experienced intimate partner
violence and songs from artists Kat
Capone and Lavender Gonzalez. The
walk itself lasted around an hour as
marchers made their way across the
bridge to City Hall.
“For seven years, we have created
a platform to highlight the intersections
of violence affecting our youth,”
Antonia Clemente, co-founder and
executive director of The Healing
Center, said in a release. “Now is the
time to shatter the wall of darkness
that has shrouded the issues of teen
dating violence, domestic abuse and
gun violence, and bring to light real
solutions.”
The Healing Center dedicates itself
to the intervention in and prevention
of family violence and abuse, serving
all faiths and cultures. The walk originated
out of the organization's youth
program when the women who were
working with the Healing Center
started asking questions about their
own daughters and potential
violence against them.
"No one was really talking about
this," Rodriguez said, explaining
that the highest rate of domestic violence
affects teenagers and those in
college. Besides raising awareness,
the walk is meant to show survivors
that they are not alone.
Clemente helped create the
Healing Center in 2000, when the
organization was run out of a church
kitchen. Soon, however, it grew into
an official nonprofit. In 2008, the
Healing Center partnered with Bethlehem
Lutheran Church of Bay Ridge.
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photos by Corazon Aguirre
Scenes from the seventh annual NYC Teen
Dating Violence Awareness Walk-A-Thon.
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