PROGRAM SUMMARY
LOVE is creating a youth lead movement against violence. love's programs train and empower youth who have been touched by violence to utilize their voices and become champions against violence IN SCHOOLS and communities across canada.

DIRECT SERVICE PROGRAMS

Photojournalism: Youth learn to express and document their thoughts and feelings about what violence means to them and how it affects their lives. Two 13-week sessions run from October to December and from February to April. LOVE also runs a summer photojournalism program from the end of June to early August.

Youth affected by violence learn to be reporters on youth culture providing documentation of youth culture from their own unique perspective. Through media structured workshops in writing and photography, LOVE youth develop the confidence and skills to constructively and creatively voice their views on the causes, impact and prevention of youth violence. Skills learned include writing, photography and critical thinking. Programs are offered at local community colleges or universities and are led by media and social service professionals.

Violence Prevention Educational Tools: LOVE Youth create tools to encourage non-violence in our homes, schools and communities. These tools are used to reach thousands of Canadians across the country.

Exhibits: Exhibits display writing and photography produced by LOVE youth across the country. Exhibit locations include schools, public buildings such as museums, art galleries, police headquarters and courthouses. These exhibits raise public awareness of the issues related to youth violence.

Newspapers: Writing and photographs created by LOVE youth in multimedia programs are used to produce our newspaper, ONE LOVE, in English and French. Over 100,000 copies are currently distributed across Canada through schools, youth centres, libraries, health clinics and universities.

Books: LOVE Works! (1998), our first book, containing photographs and articles contributed by 52 LOVE youth, sold out in bookstores and other locales across Canada. The Courage to Change: A LOVE Teen Survival Guide (2001), LOVE's second book, a teen-to-teen guide by youth, focuses on how to deal with such tough issues as isolation, bullying, abuse, family and school pressure, self-esteem, loneliness, gangs and relationships.

Leadership Training: LOVE youth learn the skills to become active leaders against violence in their schools and communities. Two 12-week sessions run from January to March and from May to July.

LOVE youth who have successfully completed the journalism component of our program learn a range of skills including public speaking, anger management, role-playing, active listening, conflict resolution and group facilitation. Youth Leaders are then uniquely situated to use their own experience, credibility and skills to educate others on violence prevention strategies. To complement this program, each year a 5-day intensive leadership training session is held at a summer camp in Haliburton Ontario. Youth Leaders from across the country unite with the goal of learning how to reduce youth violence in their schools, neighborhoods and homes.

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

School and Community Violence Prevention Workshops: LOVE Youth are empowered to lead the movement towards safer, more peaceful communities by advocating non-violence in our schools, our streets and our homes. Program runs throughout the year.

This outreach program is carried out by LOVE Youth Leaders who have completed LOVE's leadership-training program. The Youth Leaders run workshops in elementary and high schools as peer educators on violence prevention. LOVE works in collaboration with school superintendents, principals, guidance counselors, teachers, parents and community police to extend or expand youth programs in schools. Within these workshops LOVE Youth Leaders invite their peers to join their youth movement against violence.

Youth Leaders also conduct violence awareness workshops to their peers, corporations, police, youth serving professionals and at local, national and international conferences on youth violence prevention. Every year, LOVE youth reach thousands of adults, youth and children across Canada through these Outreach presentations.

Violence Prevention Committee: Students learn to become advocates of non-violence in their schools and communities. Program runs from October to June.

In selected schools in high-risk communities, students are invited to join LOVE's Violence Prevention Committees. With the guidance of LOVE staff and Youth Leaders, the committee meets for in-depth discussions about youth violence and creates projects to communicate a message of non-violence to their peers and their community. Some examples include: anti-violence talent shows, newsletters, assemblies, photojournalism exhibits and newspapers. The goal of these committees is for the entire student body to learn about alternatives to violence as well as to create a culture of non-violence throughout the school.