Student Talking About Non-violent Dating (STAND)

The Student Talking About Non-violent Dating (STAND) program conducts classroom presentations in San Francisco's middle and high school classrooms in order to teach students how to prevent, recognize, and address sexual violence. The program also trains youth to be peer educators who then facilitate sexual assault prevention presentations for their fellow students. In addition, the program provides support groups for youth who wish to talk about their relationships and dating, with male facilitators for the boys and a female facilitator for the girls.

(STAND) is an initiative of San Francisco Women Against Rape, a women of color led, volunteer-based organization that provides rape crisis services to survivors of sexual assault. In addition to the STAND program, the organization also operates a 24-hour telephone hot line, and offers crisis intervention, counseling, advocacy, adult education, and professional development services. All services are confidential and free of charge.

The goal of the program is to provide education, support, and training to middle and high school students in San Francisco on how to address sexual violence.

During the 2012 – 2013 fiscal year, STAND conducted 80 classroom presentations to over 1,666 youth and 88 adults. The program provided four 8-week support groups for 59 young women and 12 young men and trained 19 youth to be peer educators.