Violence Prevention Advocacy Toolkit created by Vanessa Corwin

December 1, 2023
Marsela Rojas-Salas

Vanessa Corwin, LEAP fellow from cohort 9 and program director from Hawai’i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (HSCADV) used her “Pay it Forward” project as an opportunity to strengthen primary violence prevention work in Hawai‘i. From conversations with survivors, advocates, and community members in her organization’s statewide needs assessment, to the current focus of Hawai‘i’s media on youth violence, she saw an opportunity to increase conversation about solutions to concerns. Her goal was to create a “Violence Prevention Advocacy Toolkit,” a collection of materials that community members could utilize to advocate for consistent youth access to culturally-relevant prevention programming.

In the process of developing the toolkit, she began to seek more information to inform action steps, starting with learning more about the history of prevention education efforts in Hawai‘i. This led to increased conversations with local programs, sexual assault colleagues, and the state Department of Health on what is been done and where to can go from here. This work will continue after Vanessa’s time with the LEAP program. She will continue to use her project as a catalyst to push forward HSCADV’s action for prevention education programming!

Below you will find the advocacy resources she created for her project!

Healthy Relationships Education – Sample Advocacy Letter Healthy Relationships Education Policy Brief

Healthy Relationships Education – Sample Advocacy Letter

Prevention Social Media Primary Prevention Fact Sheet