Write | Community Beyond Violence - ENGAGE. EMPOWER. PREVENT.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month!

And we want to hear from YOU.

We invite the youth of our beautiful community to participate in our creative writing opportunity titled Building Bridges Beyond Violence: My View.

Who can participate: Youth between the ages of 12-25 years old and live in Nevada County.

The best part: We will award those who submit the first 25 essays a $150 Visa gift card; all other participants will receive a reward to be determined!

To learn more about Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month - click here.

Here are the details on how to participate:

Step One

Read and ponder the following:

Desmond Tutu was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He once said:

We need to stop jumping in the river to save people; we need to go upstream to find out why they’re falling in.

This popular allegory illustrates the importance of solving public health issues—such as violence prevention—by getting to the root of the problem:

As you’re standing by a river and see someone drowning as they float downstream, you jump in to save them. But, as you try to save more drowning people, you realize you need to go upstream to discover what is causing so many people to fall into the river. You discover a hole in the bridge where people are falling through.