First set of Occasional Papers selected - congrats to the authors!

The Taskforce is going to be disseminating Occasional Papers to point to successful strategies to ending violence against girls. We want to know what works, and what new approaches are underway.

A big congratulations to the first round of authors, whose papers will be disseminated in November:

* Scheherazade Tillet & Salamishah Tillet, A Long Walk Home: Girl / Friends Summer Institute
* Brenda Arsenault,The Sooner the Better: The Impact of Early Exposure to Abuse Prevention on High School Sexual Assault Education
* Young Women's Empowerment Project, The Bad Encounter Line

Tell us about schools that are promoting safe learning environments!

According to the 2007 YRBS, as reported in the Status of Girls in Illinois report, more than 1 in 10 girls in Chicago has skipped school because they felt unsafe. The Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls & Young Women is developing recommendations on how to make Chicago's schools safer for girls.

One factor we know is important is the culture of the school. Schools can be safe and respectful learning environments that help young people to thrive, or they can be cold, punitive environments. It is crucial that our schools develop a culture of safety and respect.

We want to hear from you about positive examples! Can you tell us about a school that is promoting a positive environment for students?

Next Roundtable, May 19

Our next Roundtable will focus on violence against girls in school settings. We will be meeting on May 19 at 5 pm.

This is an area where there is a lot of campaign work underway, and we'll be hearing from folks around those campaigns, including:

-- the Shriver Center's work around ESSA legislation
-- the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance's anti-bullying legislation
-- the Safe & Affirming Education campaign led by Gender JUST

We'll talk about the school to prison pipeline as it affects girls, and the role of violence. And we'll think about what else needs to change to make schools safe places for girls to thrive.

For details, and to receive a copy of the background paper for this session, just email us at chitaskforce@gmail.com