Travis County Commissioners Court
January 31, 2012 (Agenda)
Item 4
Item number 4, consider and take appropriate action on the following: a, recognize February as teen dating violence awareness and prevention month; and b, recognize the 2012 jump up and stop teen dating violence outreach campaign.
good morning.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
thank you for assisting on this agenda item and having the resolution for this event.
what we are touting here this year is our first annual teen dating violence awareness campaign called jump up and stop teen dating violence.
we have partnered with all the high schools, varsity basketball programs here in Travis County and we had a wonderful press conference yesterday with the help of the Austin independent school district, academy outdoor sports, tctv, channel 17 are going to assist news this, Texas advocacy project annual Travis County sheriff's office.
and what we're going to do with the high school athletes men and womens basketball programs, they are going to be wearing purple shoe lacees to help advertise the concern and struggles we have in our community with teen dating violence.
they will be doing that throughout the basketball season through the month of February as part of our jump up and stop teen dating violence.
we're excited to partner with the Texas advocacy project and Travis County sheriff's office.
and also a couple statistics that we had one in tie teens have been in serious relationships they report being hit, slapped, pushed or abused, and that's physical and verbal abuse in our community.
we think it's an important opportunity to partner with the leaders on campus and the athletic program and varsity athletes to step up and make note.
I mean, they are the designated leaders on campus and their role as a varsity athlete to help us push this campaign forward and stop teen dating violence.
and also with me I have browman blake.
>> I'm a youth attorney at the Texas advocacy project.
our agency provides life saving legal solutions for victims of abuse including services specifically targeted to young people.
we are incredibly honored to be partnering with the Travis County sheriff's office on this jump up and stop teen dating violence campaign and really think it will help spread the word about the services available through both of our agencies.
>> miss kelly page, director of outreach.
>> good morning.
we are basically expanding what we started in 2006 and with the help of the chief and florence, she has been the rock to kick off this campaign and her ideas and so we're excited about going into the schools and joining are our sros and passing out our push cards designed by nicole duran and to educate the youth and the parents on teen dating violence.
>> and this program is going to tie in with the psa contest that we developed several years ago under the direction of miss page and the Texas advocacy project.
I'll let nicole burr ran expand on the psa contest and I believe we also have footage we're going to show from last year's contest.
I'll turn it over to nicole.
>> hi, good morning.
so this year is our sixth annual psa awareness competition.
we partner with Austin film festival.
in previous years it began as targeting teen dating violence and over the years we added substance abuse.
this year I thought it would be great to encompass bullying and games and teen suicide.
we've opened up the topic of the competition to a larger genre and it's open to all Travis County high school students.
the submission deadline is March 30th and then we have rewards reception in April that we invite our community partners and sponsors.
it's a really great awareness campaign.
>> we have the video.
>> yes.
this was the winning video last year was from Austin high school.
I believe it was a young lady that made the film and she had a few -- I think two or three people on her team.
this is called breaking the chains.
if you could cue that, please.
>> [music playing]
>> where have you been?
>> so the great thing about that video we liked a lot last year, just leave it on, that I think a lot of teens and young adults always think of dating violence as a physical bruce and they think they have to be bruised or hurt so I love they use the control aspect.
that's usually where it starts off with younger dating relationships.
that's why we chose that video.
>> and I can say over the years the participation from the students have been unbelievable.
the ideas and thought that goes to this and how much time it takes to put together their psa advertisement.
they also have a poster campaign they do as well, but there's a lot of talented young high school students out here.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see some of their work at n.
the future at the film festival and they have a good message about the program.
I guess in closing I just want to remind everyone if they have issues or know someone with teen dating violence, obviously call 911 for immediate assistance or contact the 1-800 number, 1-800-374-hope for assistance on teen dating violence issues.
with that thank you so much and I think we have the resolution by the Commissioners.
that's what the rumor is going around town.
>> should I read it?
>> yes, sir, if you would, please.
>> it reads: whereas 72% of 8th and 9th graders reportedly date.
whereas one in four adolescents report verbal, physical, emotional or sexual abuse from a dating partner each year.
where was about 10% of students report being physically hurt nationwide by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the past 12 months.
whereas cell phone calls and texting mean constant control.
one in three teens say they are text messaged 10, 20, 30 times an hour by a partner who is keeping tabs on them.
and whereas the establishment of national teen dating violence awareness and prevention month will benefit schools, communities and families regardless of socioeconomic status, race or sex.
now therefore be it resolved we the members of the Travis County Commissioners court do hereby, one, designate the month of February, 2012, as national teen dating violence awareness and prevention month.
2, support communities to empower teens to develop healthier relationships.
and 3, call upon the citizens of Travis County including youth and parents, schools, law enforcement and interest groups to observe national teen dating violence awareness and prevention month with appropriate programs and activities that promote awareness and prevention.
of the crime of teen dating violence in their communities and I move approval.
>> second.
>> by the way, if students see this happening at school, why wouldn't they simply report to the administrators?
>> well, that's a very good question.
most schools have a school resource officer, but I think it's the whole issue of walking into the -- contacting the school resource officer, walking into the office in front of their peers or environment.
it's a lot easier for them to go home, get on their cell phone and contact a 1-800 number or 911.
a lot of them it's the whole issue it's embarrassing.
a lot of them feel the pressure to admit they are being controlled.
that is the same issues with family violence on the adult level.
>> if I can add one other thing.
I think, we both have that passion working with kids directly that a lot of them don't recognize they are in that type of relationship or see the warning signs.
this is part of the work is to bring awareness to kids.
to start recognizing early symptoms, that's me, maybe I should talk to somebody.
I think some of them don't quite see it could be them.
>> I want to applaud you all for wrapping all the issues together because the teen suicide rate is definitely related to bullying, dating violence, gang-related activity.
and suicide kills more folks in Texas than murder.
so there is a violence, an emotional violence that we probably couldn't prosecute, but needs to be addressed.
>> can't wait to bring back the new film for you to see.
>> what kind of process have you noticed that the -- the students have actually notified the parents about such type of controlling activity?
is there a role that the parents play in this?
and I hear we talk about, you know, different levels of involvement, but I haven't heard anything per se that will let me know that the students has actually early on in the process notified the parents that, hey, this is what's going on in my world and how have the parents responded?
do you have any indication or any level of -- of revelation of those type of -- of that type of scenario?
>> you know, we don't have
>> [inaudible] information and we would always encourage and hope people would inform their parents right away or their parents would notice something was going on.
and same with the school resource officers and other trusted adults.
but the fact is the information that we do have and we have collected says when young people are experience ing this issue they are going to a peer.
they are going to see a video like this, they are going to talk to their friend who made the video, they are going to see the student athletes are open about this issue, they are going to feel comfortable talking to each other.
and we would hope that their peers or their sro or their parent would all remember they can call this hotline.
>> it appears that's going to take some serious collaboration in my mind to really reduce these types of incidents across the board, whatever category they may fall in.
and I just didn't hear parents in that so I just wanted to make sure parents were maybe a part of this collaboration.
>> yes, sir.
I know that in the past, I'm part of the community outreach unit, kelly page director, some of the presentations we've done in the community are to ptas or some parent groups.
so we have done presentations that kind of target to the parent, hey, this is something -- warning signs to look for in your child.
which may be slightly altered to the signs peer to peer would notice.
absolutely it's a collaborative effort.
>> it's actually been a topic of our
>> [inaudible] in the past.
like west lake high school we had the discussion of teen dating
>> [inaudible].
>> okay.
thank you.
>> one other thing, if you notice on the back of our form here we have a qr code.
we're trying to get tuned in to the techo kids for the high school and college kids to click into the app.
it takes them into the website and video and more information about teen dating violence.
they will keep out their phone and have it wherever they go.
>> right.
>> any more discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you for your work.
>> thank you so much.
>> thank you all.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
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