This post is from our Safe Public Spaces Team in Florida, USA. The SPSM projects are supported by SSH donors. If you would like to donate to support the 2016 mentees, we would greatly appreciate it!
By Tena Gordon
In addition to our library event in October educating teens about street harassment, on December 6, 2015, Me=You: Sexual Violence Awareness (MYSVA for short) held our first Chalk Day! We set up on the sidewalk along Degroodt Road, outside our local library. Jineth (the member of MYSVA pictured to the left) held a sign to attract the drivers in passing vehicles to participate. Unfortunately, this was not a successful strategy. Next time, we are going to host Chalk Day at a place with less vehicle traffic and more foot traffic.
Anyway, people on foot and bike stopped and wrote messages against street harassment or just signed their name. We offered them a free informational, promotional package and free water. The most touching part of the day was when Rachael (the jogger pictured to the right) came back and brought her daughter of high-school age to sign her name, too.
Also, to our surprise, Sergio (the student journalist pictured below) from our school came and participated. He took pictures of us chalking, and he did a story on our event that aired on the school news.
In total, about 10-15 people participated. They were mostly of middle-age, not our targeted demographic, so next time we will have it in a place where teens hang out more frequently. Overall, Chalk Day raised awareness about street harassment, our main goal.
 |
 |
Tena Gordon is the MYSVA Coordinator and a high school student in Florida.
