skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Program Finds Success in Reducing Sexual Violence in KY High Schools

play audio
Play

Thursday, September 11, 2014   

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky's first lady calls it a game changer – using a program based on bystander intervention to reduce sexual violence among high school-age children.

The Green Dot program, which was created and first used at the University of Kentucky, is now being tried in more than a dozen of the state's high schools.

Gov. Steve Beshear’s wife, Jane, says it's a huge step forward in changing the culture toward sexual violence, dating violence, sexual harassment and stalking.

"How are we to stop the cycle of violence and influence on our children?” Jane Beshear asks. “Answers: early intervention, early education, access to treatment and laws that protect our young people."

Over the last five years, more than 100,000 - students from 26 high schools across the state have participated in a research trial.

According to the research trial's primary investigator, Ann Coker, preliminary results show that Green Dot has reduced sexual violence perpetration by more than 50 percent.

The primary prevention strategy is based on empowering students to reduce violence with their social networks.

The idea for the program's name comes from dots on a map, each symbolizing "any behavior, choice, word, or attitude that promotes safety for all ... and communicates utter intolerance for any form of violence."

Eileen Recktenwald, executive director of the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, says the students' involvement in the project has been invaluable.

"They are the future of a violence-free world,” she stresses. “May they carry and share, and the sharing is the important part, the active bystanding skills they have learned with them wherever they go.

“And maybe, just maybe, within their lifetime sexual violence will only be in history books."

Those involved with the project say they hope to implement Green Dot in more high schools around the state.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021