Leave Out Violence (LOVE)

Leave Out Violence (LOVE) is an award winning, not-for-profit, grass roots youth organization that is an effective means of social change, providing hope, motivation and opportunity to thousands of young people. LOVE’s multi-media programs in Photography, Video, Radio Broadcasting and Journalism teach youth how to document the violence in their lives and create concrete solutions to end violence. These young people then graduate into Leadership Training where they develop the skills, confidence and passion to become part of LOVE’s community violence prevention team where they share their messages of non-violence in schools and in their communities and with their peers. LOVE is creating a youth led movement against violence by teaching credible youth how to use their voices and become champions against violence. Since LOVE began in 1993, these young leaders have reached hundreds of thousands of children, youth and adults reducing violence in schools, neighbourhoods and homes. LOVE is ending violence — one youth, one school, one neighbourhood at a time.

 460 rue Saint-Paul E., suite 204, Montréal, Québec H2Y 3V1

 Telephone: 514-938-0006 / Fax: 514-938-2377

email: 

691 East Broadway
Coast Salish Territories
Vancouver, BC V5T 1X7
Tel: 604-709-5728
vancouver@leaveoutviolence.org

240 West 35th Street
Suite 200
New York, NY 10001
PHONE: 212-714-1194
E-mail: cevans@leaveoutviolence-us.org

Suite 106, 1657 Barrington Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2A1 Phone: (902) 429-6616
Fax: (902) 429-0097
E-mail: love@eastlink.ca

3130 Bathurst St. #202, Toronto ON M6A 2A1
Tel: 416-785-8411
Fax: 416-785-1236
toronto@leaveoutviolence.org

• Local/National/International
• As the demand for LOVE’s programs grew, LOVE expanded from its beginnings in Montreal to Toronto in 1996, Vancouver and Halifax in 2000, New York City in 2005, Eilat, Israel in 2008, and will begin in Uganda in 2011. LOVE continues to receive requests for its programs from cities throughout North American and around the world.

• LOVE targets youth who have been victims, perpetrators and witnesses to many forms of violence including: gangs, domestic violence, racism, bullying, drugs, weapons and self-harm. 
• LOVE has strong community partners and supporters including school boards, the police, youth serving organizations, and many individuals, foundations and corporations who believe that youth can play an active role in making their lives and communities safer.

• The LOVE organization was founded by Twinkle (Sheila) Rudberg whose husband Daniel was killed by a fourteen year-old gang member on the streets of downtown Montreal. Daniel had gone to the aid of an elderly woman who was being assaulted when the teen stabbed him to death. During the youth’s trial Twinkle learned that the young perpetrator’s life had consisted of being in gangs, taking drugs and spending hours watching violent movies. She began to see him as a victim of violence as well.
• In 1993, as statistics on youth violence became alarming, Twinkle founded LOVE, a community-based organization dedicated at first to reducing the amount of violence in entertainment and the media and raising awareness about its effect on the psyche of young people. Twinkle then sought a way to reach marginalized youth to help them reject violence.
• In 1994, a McGill faculty committee introduced Twinkle to journalist and teacher Brenda Zosky Proulx who was planning a journalism-based violence prevention program for youth who had been challenged by violence. Brenda was joined by Stan Chase of Dawson College’s Department of Professional Photography and a teacher of at risk youth. Together they created the LOVE photography and journalism program in 1995, followed by LOVE’s leadership and school outreach programs in 1996 and 1997. Video, broadcasting and spoken word were later added.
• Today thousands of LOVE youth have become leaders in their communities. Like Twinkle they set an example, showing how they can overcome the tragedy of violence by investing themselves in their communities.
• LOVE’s programs are designed to help youth overcome the challenge of violence in their lives and develop the skills to become local leaders against violence. In LOVE, young people who have been victims, witnesses or perpetrators of violence attend a series of weekly training sessions held in Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal and Halifax. They learn to use their personal experiences with gangs, drugs, weapons, racism, bullying, domestic violence and self-harm to help other youth make positive choices and together build safer communities.
• Established: 1993

video production

To reduce violence in the lives of youth and in our communities by building a team of youth who communicate a message of non-violence.

Media Arts Program (MAP)
Through the Media Arts Program (MAP) youth who have been witnesses, victims and/or perpetrators of violence, learn how to identify, analyze and document the issues surrounding the violence in their lives and develop reality-based solutions to end violence. Ideas are formulated and stories shared in “editorial meetings” at the beginning of each media training session. As part of the process, essential life skills such as critical thinking, verbal communication, listening, social awareness, problem solving, take hold.

LOVE’s instructive programming in Media Arts includes photography, journalism, videography and broadcasting. Through the lens of a camera, the written word and their voices, these young people articulate the impact of violence on their lives and explore positive alternatives. Programs are led by media and social service professionals and are offered at local community colleges or universities or in LOVE offices.

Leadership Training

Youth who have completed MAP, graduate into Leadership Training, where they develop the skills, confidence and passion to become part of LOVE’s community violence prevention team. Based on the principles of youth engagement, the training includes public speaking, producing and performing spoken word, producing videos and public service announcements, and group facilitation. These young leaders work in schools and the communities to promote and encourage youth participation in violence prevention by establishing Violence Prevention Committees. Their unique combination of knowledge, experience and opportunity, enables them to be effective in promoting awareness, influencing attitudes and effecting change. To complement this program, each year, a 5-day intensive Leadership Training Camp is held in Haliburton, Ontario. Youth Leaders from across the country come together to further enhance their leadership skills which they can then take back to their schools, neighbourhoods and communities.

School and Community Violence Prevention Outreach Program

LOVE Youth Leaders educate their peers, professionals, and concerned community members about violence and violence-prevention. Youth Leaders use their presentation and group facilitation skills, as well as educational tools they have created, to examine the impact of violence and share violence-prevention strategies. Each year Leaders educate more than 40,000 youth and community members.

Violence Prevention Program

Violence Prevention Committees are established in elementary, middle and high schools in priority communities. Youth Leaders and LOVE Staff co-facilitate the committees which meet regularly throughout the school year, to create projects that communicate a message of non-violence to the entire student body. The projects might include photojournalism exhibits, school newsletters, zines, comic strips or public service announcements about violence and its prevention. The goal of the committees is to facilitate students’ ownership of the violence prevention initiative in their schools and neighbourhoods.

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