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Nonprofit Launches Project Targeting Teenage Dating Violence

End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin Receives $30K Grant For Initiative

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Patti Seger announcing the project at a press conference on Tuesday. Photo: Gilman Halsted/WPR News.

A nonprofit that help victims of domestic violence is launching a new program to prevent teenage dating violence.

According to Patti Seger, director of the group End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, nationally 1.5 million high school age teens are victims of dating violence every year, most of them girls.

We know from research that girls and young women between the ages 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence — almost triple the national average,” said Seger.

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Thanks to a $30,000 grant from Verizon Wireless, the group has planned a three-pronged approach to prevent that violence. She said that because teenagers text each other constantly and aren’t likely to contact a parent or police if they’re in an unsafe situation, the first prong is a dedicated texting line .

The most likely person that they will ever tell is another teen,” said Seger. “Only 7 percent of teens see law enforcement as an option for themselves, so we’re working to figure out how to do confidential teen texting lines with programs.”

The second two prongs both involve education. Seger said that the majority of adult perpetrators were abused as children, so preventing violence among teens is key to reducing adult domestic violence as well. That means creating anti-dating violence programs run by teens and passing new legislation.

The most effective model of prevention is that teens hear the message early and often, so (we) hope to have legislation introduced that will build violence prevention into the existing curriculum,” said Seger.

One such bill was introduced last year by state Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, but it failed to make it out of committee.

Correction: This article orginally said that the name of the director of the group End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin is Patti Seeger. Her name is actually Patti Seger.