"HIGH-PROFILE TEEN INTIMATE-PARTNER VIOLENCE IN RIHANNA/CHRIS BROWN CASE UNDERSCORES NEED FOR TASK FORCE" BP MARKOWITZ AND DEPUTY BP YVONNE GRAHAM ANNOUNCE FIRST MEETING
Brooklyn Teen Violence Domestic Violence Task Force will meet in March
Rising teen domestic violence statistics were reflected in the front pages recently with the reported attack on singer Rihanna by Chris Brown. And with teen calls to the City's Domestic Violence Hotline rising--16,861 were received in 2007, up from the 2006 total of 9,462--the need to raise awareness and provide information and prevention training, especially among adolescents and their parents, couldn't be more obvious.
Borough President Markowitz said, "The ultimate goal of the task force is to reduce intimate partner violence among teens by encouraging real changes in behavior. We need to teach all of our kids at as young an age as possible that violence is never an acceptable response."
In an effort to raise awareness about teen violence and educate teens and parents about violence prevention, Borough President Marty Markowitz and Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham will convene several Brooklyn social service agencies to establish the Brooklyn Teen Violence Task Force, to be chaired by Brooklyn-based Women Against Violence founder Dr. Nicoletta Pallotta, which will explore and advance innovative ways to reduce the unacceptable rates of violence that occur within intimate teen relationships
Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham added, "It is our hope that the Brooklyn Task Force on Teenage Violence can help empower our youth, first by identifying the different forms that abuse can take and then reaching out to those affected and connecting them to the resources they need to combat violence. As we have seen in the high profile case of Rihanna--who is now reportedly reuniting with Chris Brown--the complex emotional dynamics of both victim and abuser need to be addressed and understood; only then can we move forward in our goal of eradicating intimate partner violence."
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1.3 million women are physically assaulted by their partners every year. And women ages 20-24 are at the greatest risk of nonfatal partner violence. In
The task force will discuss community outreach, research, advocacy, education, publicity, intervention, and training, as well as establish best practices to reduce violent outcomes in intimate teen relationships. The first meeting of the Brooklyn Task Force on Teenage Violence will take place on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 9:00 am at Brooklyn Borough Hall.
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