Service Learning Proposal for Harbor House of
Central Florida
By: Fawn B. & Connor, M.
September 23, 2012
Meredith Tweed
WST 3015
Community Partner
Profile:
Community Partner: Harbor House of Central
Florida
Contact: Shelley Rodgers, Development Officer
Community Partner Mission: Harbor House of
Central Florida is a program that seeks to end intimate partner violence by
providing safety, shelter, and counseling to survivors, as well as
comprehensive education and advocacy throughout the community (Harbor House of
Central Florida).
Political and/or social basis for organization:
“Harbor House believes that prevention is a key part of ending domestic abuse”
(Harbor House of Central Florida), so in addition to providing housing and
other services for over 100 domestic violence survivors at a time, they head a
variety of community action projects. In particular, Project Courage is an
initiative designed to educate youth, schools, businesses, faith institutions,
and other community partners about how to recognize
the signs of abuse, respond to those
who have been victimized, and how refer
those individuals to appropriate places to seek helpful resources (Harbor House
of Central Florida).
Community Partner Needs: Harbor House depends
heavily on the work of volunteers in order to keep their program running
successfully. They are in need of volunteers to preform essential functions at
the shelter such as organizing the food pantry & cleaning the child space.
On a more community level, they seek volunteers who are interesting in being
trained to advocate and raise awareness about intimate partner violence and
abuse during informational fairs and public events. Also, like any nonprofit,
they need a variety of donations ranging from food to personal hygiene products.
The
Proposal:
The following proposal will address the issue we
plan to focus on, our course of action in order to meet the needs of our
community partner, and how this issue directly relates to the field of women’s
studies. The action plan of this proposal is subject to revision and is
flexible in order to meet the needs of the community partner.
Defining Intimate
Partner Violence:
The Center
for Disease Control and Prevention defines intimate Partner violence as “any
physical, sexual, or psychological harm [caused] by a current or former partner
or spouse” (CDC). Currently, one in four women in the United States has
experienced some form of intimate partner violence or will in her lifetime
(CDC).
Rationale for Women’s Studies:
Violence and its use in the oppression of women is very
present throughout the world today. Much of this violence can be seen in
Intimate Partner Abuse. This violence is used structurally as a way of keeping
women subordinate to men in this patriarchal society.
From a micro level, IPA is often explained in terms of an
individual mental health problem, innate sexual craving or personal dysfunction
on behalf of the perpetrators (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 264). This
micro-level analysis of partner abuse belittles the overall issue, but the
individual struggles of women are the most important in understanding the
causes, effects, and warning signs of partner abuse.
From an economic standpoint, women as a group earn less than
men forcing them to rely on men for financial support. In the case of an abusive
relationship, lack of finances of restricted access to finances makes it almost
impossible for women to leave an abusive relationship (Kirk
and Okazawa-Rey 266).
Regardless of individual experience, finances, or knowledge
about the issue of IPA, Harbor House of Central FL seeks to provide counseling
and shelter to all women who seek it. Harbor House works both to saves the
lives of individuals and promote an educated culture safe for women.
Plan
Proposal:
Education is one of the most powerful tools for
igniting social change. Through tabling events and advocacy training with
Harbor House of Central FL, and by hosting a donation drive, we aim to educate
not only ourselves, but also our campus and community about the prevalence of
intimate partner violence and how to recognize and react to it within our own
communities.
We will table at several community events on
behalf of Harbor House to increase education and awareness of Intimate Partner
Violence. In doing this we hope to hinder the intergenerational transmission of
abuse within families (Harbor House of Central Florida). While the
intergenerational transmission of violence and abuse is a problem all on its
own, intimate partner violence education is a preventative measure that can
help save the lives of many by teaching both women and men to recognize the
warning signs of a violent and controlling partner. Tabling is a great way to
deliver this information as well as a way to inform people about the resources
available for victims and families in their community.
In order to directly reach out to and assist
victims of intimate partner abuse, we will be participating in Harbor House’s
“Project Courage” campaign. For this campaign, we will be a part of a group
delivering informative door hangers in high-risk neighborhoods. Last year, 72
hours after this event, “calls to the
Harbor House crisis hotline doubled and 27 women and children fled their
abusive homes” (Harbor House of Central Florida). Many victims who have been
involved in long-term violent relationship experience a “learned hopelessness”,
in which they learn that it is impossible to escape (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 264) and distributing these
door hangers is a good way to reach out to those individuals.
In addition to participating in Harbor House
related community events, we will be hosting a donation drive in partnership
with Knight Advocates on campus to benefit Harbor House as well as Safe House
of Seminole County. During our orientation at Harbor House, we learned that
they were in need of personal hygiene products at the shelter. Therefore, we
decided to host a hygiene drive titled: “Give Survivors a Fresh Start.”
Action:
We have already begun our project by attending
Harbor house orientation and registering for RRR training. This is designed to
teach us how to recognize, respond, and refer, members in the community, that
we may encounter while tabling, who can benefit from the Harbor House program.
We plan to hold our drive from October 5th
to October 31st, in honor of domestic violence awareness month. We
have already had meetings with Knight Advocates and UCF Victim Services, and
both have agreed to assist us with publicizing and promoting our event. We are
also in contact with some offices around UCF that will act as ‘drop-off’
locations for students and faculty who wish to donate.
Time Line:
Sept 29- Project Courage Door Hanging Event
Oct 2nd – RRR training
Oct 5th -31st: Donation
Drive
Oct 14th – Harbor House Tabling at
Family Day event
Nov 10th – Harbor House Tabling at
Community Health Fair
Nov 11th – Service Learning Project
complete
* Dates of meeting with Knight Advocates and
Victim Services are not listed because they have not been established at this
time.
Word Count: 1119.
Works Cited:
CDC. "Intimate Partner
Violence: Definitions." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
20 Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2012.
"Harbor House of Central
Florida." Harbor House of Central Florida. N.p., n.d. Web. 27
Sept. 2012.
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo
Okazawa-Rey. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 4th ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2007.
