HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0121.011 2004-2006
Harry Kim "+r~ Dixie Kaetsu
Mayor ~ ~ Managing Director
~i:il Peter L. Hendricks
- - 1 Deputy Managing Director
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COUNTY OF HAWAII
2> Aupuni Streek Room 215 Flilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 (808) 961-8211 Pax (808) 961-6553
KONA: 75-5706 Kuakini Highway, Suite 103 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740
(808) 329-5226 Fax (808) 326-5663
April 4, 2005
The Honorable Gary Safarik
The Honorable Virginia Isbell
The Honorable Pete Hoffman
The Honorable Bob Jacobson
The Honorable Angel Pilago
The Honorable Stacy Higa
The Honorable Fred Holschuh
The Honorable James Arakaki
The Honorable Donald Ikeda
Hawaii County Council
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, HI 96720
Dear Members of the Hawaii County Council:
The Hawaii County Committee on the Status of Women (HCCSW) is
requesting funding for the Teen Dating Violence Prevention Initiative (TDVPI) for
training. I support this request for the full amount of $15,000.
By way of background, the TDVPI received federal funding from the U.S.
Dept. of Health and Human Services for a National Summit held in November
2004. Prior to that date, a request was made to Governor Lingle for her support
of this initiative to address and eliminate teen dating violence. This support by
the Governor made it possible for Hawaii to participate in the National Summit.
The Hawaii Team members are from the Big Island. The State Teams
developed the prototypes for the TDVPI Toolkits. These Toolkits contain
Prevention Recommendations and Warning Signs to help students, parents,
teachers, administrators, police, medical professionals, judges, attorneys,
counselors, and community leaders.
The HCCSW would like funds for training, education, and prevention. If
more than $15,000 is available, we could certainly use the funds to include a
Teen Dating Violence Awareness Video with local teens talking about their
experiences. The Emmy Award Winning Film Production Company of a PBS
teen program has agreed to produce the video at a minimum cost of $45,000. I,j
Comm: No.
Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Ref. To:Prote
Ref. Date APR~K
This project works at the community level with informational and
instructive materials to educate the public about alarming facts and to prevent
teen dating violence. The following facts show that we need to be proactive in
this area:
1. There were an estimated 4,000 incidents of sexual assault in public schools
across the U.S. during the 1996-1997 school year alone.
2. Victims of violent adolescent relationships are commonly abused in their adult
relationships and are at high risk for substance abuse, eating disorders, risky
sexual behaviors, and suicide.
3. The severity of violence among intimate partners has been shown to increase
if the pattern has been established in adolescence.
4. Dating violence during adolescence has been linked to adult marital violence.
5. Every 12 seconds a woman is beaten in the U.S., and a woman is killed every
six hours.
The American Bar Association, Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal
Needs of Children is working to raise awareness of teen dating violence through
securing funding for training, the Toolkits, video, posters, teacher's guide,
national publicity campaign, and student surveys.
Teen dating violence happens in rural and urban areas, and occurs at all
socio-economic levels.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter. For additional
information on this project, please contact HCCSW member Margaret Masunaga
at 328-2521 or 324-7117, ext. 103, or mkmasunaga@aol.com.
Aloha,
Harry Kim
C~/ MAYOR