Alliance Blog

This is a guest blog post by Laura Fidler, Research and Project Coordinator at the Alliance.  Laura provides training and technical assistance to community coalitions in 3 New York City communities (The Lower East Side, the South Bronx and Williamsburg, Brooklyn) as part of Project ENVISION, a multi-year primary prevention community mobilization project dedicated to changing the social norms and community conditions which promote violence in New York City.

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On September 1, 2010, I had the honor of presenting at the National Sexual Assault Conference (NSAC) in Los Angeles, CA.  The theme of this year’s conference was, “Building The World We Want to Live In,” making it an ideal setting to share our progress on Project ENVISION, a primary prevention program that allows us to envision New York City free from sexual violence.

In addition to discussing findings from our community needs assessments and the ways in which we used research to inform community-specific prevention programs, I asked workshop attendees to participate in a “visioning” exercise.  I asked for each person to jot down a word, phrase or drawing that captures some part of their own vision of a nation free from sexual violence.  It is important that we are able to envision the improvement to the communities we work in as a result of our efforts—this helps us to develop clear program goals and attainable objectives.

More importantly, sharing our visions can help us to stay motivated when we feel frustrated or the work feels too abstract, and demonstrates what we all stand to gain when we invest in primary prevention.  Take a look at our collective vision, here (pdf), and share your own vision in the comments below. For those folks who shared their vision at NSAC, how did it feel to sum up your vision in a word or two on a note card? How does it feel to see your contribution among the visions shared by others?

I am very grateful to David Lee, CALCASA, PCAR and NSVRC for providing me with the opportunity to share the promising work we are doing in New York City with so many of my colleagues from around the country.  I enjoyed meeting and learning from so many thoughtful and passionate individuals dedicated to all levels of prevention.  I look forward to seeing you again next year!