Community Project

20 interesting aspects of the community (New York City)
1. Diverse City.
2. 5 Boroughs.
3. Lots of different food.
4. Expensive living cost.
5. Starbucks on every corner.
6. Lot of drugs in the schools.
7. Neighborhoods are changing a lot.
8. There are poorer areas and richer areas.
9. Port authority.
10. Subway system.
11. Many tall buildings.
12. Central Park.
13. Lack of trees.
14. Lack of grass.
15. No stars to see.
16. Many things to do.
17. The theaters/shows to see.
18. Easy for young people to get bored.
19. Full of sexual predators.
20. Allows for young people to gain independence at a younger age (no need to drive)

3 strengths
1. Diversity.
2. Ability to do what you want. The city has everything.
3.

3 Weaknesses
1. Lack of community interaction.
2. Sexual predators and sexual abuse.
3. No nature or place to escape.

One aspect to change
Sexual abuse.

Observation/”The Problem”
The problem in sexual abuse cases is that adult men and women are abusing children. Laws are set to prevent this from happening but like drugs and other illegal things, those laws don’t keep people from sexually abusing children. It is also a problem that in the end, out of only 39% of the attacks reported, 16.3% of those rapists end up in prison, and calculating in the unreported rapes, only one out of sixteen rapists go to jail.
When looking over statistics one of the most shocking things is how many people are sexually abused. 1 out of every 5 to 7 men and 1 out of every 3 to 5 women are abused before the age of 18. That means that in a classroom of 25 students, about five of them have been sexually assaulted. And while the students that have been abused are aware of the issue, many of their peers have no idea that this is such a prevalent issue amongst their classmates. But what is most disturbing of all about these cases (children grades 5-12) is that 48% of the boys and 29% of the girls never tell a soul about what happened to them. And without telling anyone, they alone don’t have the power to stop what is going on to them.
In addition to not being able to stop the assailant, without speaking to someone about sexual abuse, victims will not be able to receive the emotional support and psychological treatment they needed to recover. No child is capable of handling the baggage of sexual abuse and the results of it are devastating, destroying many children’s lives. As a result of sexual abuse, children can develop self-esteem issues, distorted views of sex, suicidal tendencies, difficulty relating to others, and lastly, some sexually abused children become child abusers or prostitutes.

Large Goal
To create a society where children know their options and are able to tell about sexual abuse so that sexual abuse can be stopped one case at a time. Then children and teenagers that are sexually abused can get help recovering the trauma of being abused.

Smaller Goal
To help develop an organization that will give children information, options for telling, an understanding of why it’s important to tell and encouragement to tell.

Action Plans
1. Work on creating a website to provide information that will be youth appropriate.
2. Hand out information cards to students.
3. Post information about sexual abuse in different neighborhoods.

One action plan
Work on creating a website to provide information that will be youth appropriate.


Data
Over the past semester I have been working on creating a website that will provide information to students. First I created a draft, then I showed it to my internship supervisor, we talked about the changes and I continued to work on it. After several drafts that I worked on with my internship supervisor, I went to the Young Women’s Circle (YWC) and shared my work with them. In the meeting with YWC, the group of young teenage girls gave us feedback on the structure, words and general points made. From then I continued to work on it until the very end when I completed the drafts as much as possible.


The Pages

Welcome Page
We know it takes a lot of courage to come read this page. We are happy that you are here. The first thing you need to know is that it is not your fault. You are not responsible in any way for what has happened to you. As you continue to read this page their may be things that seem scary, and if you need to take this one step at a time it’s all right. Just remember, IT’S NEVER YOUR FAULT.

The second thing we want you to know that you don’t need to protect your abuser. In America a minor (someone that is under 18 years old) cannot consent to any sexual activity. This means that in a situation where an adult is sexually involved with a minor, the adult is breaking the law. This means that they are guilty, not you. But, in order to end the sexual abuse, you have to choose someone and JUST TELL.

JUST TELL is here to help by giving you the tools you need to stop sexual abuse. This website is designed to give you information so that you can stop your sexual abuse.

Why Tell?
The main goal of JUST TELL is to get you safe. To do that we want you to choose an adult that you trust and tell them what is happening to you. Then we can help you by giving you information about your options are for telling.

Why Tell? What is so important about telling? A lot of children and teenagers are sexually abused. And most of them by a person they know. Often, when it is someone you know, the sexual abuse goes on for a long time. We want to help you make it stop! Also, a lot of abusers molest more than one child. So it is very important to other children that we stop them.

Another reason to tell someone is that it is going to make you feel better to share what happened to you. When you tell someone you are helping yourself both physically and emotionally.

What happens if you don’t tell? If you don’t tell, the abuse is more likely to continue and there wont be anyone to help you overcome the struggles caused by sexual abuse. When people don’t tell and don’t get help they are more likely to experience difficulty later in their life. We want to make sure that you tell so you can get help to stop the pain and prevent it from causing more pain in the future.

What is Sexual Abuse?
Sexual abuse is any contact between a child and an older person that sexually arouses the older person. There are many different things that are considered sexual abuse. Here are two ways to separate sexual abuse; one is by “touching sexual abuse” and the other is “non-touching sexual abuse.”
Touching Sexual Abuse Includes:
• Touching and/or kissing a young person in a sexual or uncomfortable way
• Touching a young person’s private parts; including their vagina, breasts, penis and/or butt.
• Having a young person touch a older person’s private parts
• Sexual Intercourse between a young person and an older person.
Non-touching Sexual Abuse Includes:
• An older person showing a young person their private parts
• “Talking dirty” to a young person or making a young person “talk dirty” to an older person
• Pressuring a young person to watch or participate in erotic videos or photographs.
• Making a young person watch other adult sexual activity
The Statistics
We know that every person’s experience is different and just providing statistics doesn’t let anyone know the specific troubles of each survivor. But these statistics are helpful in giving people an overview of the problem and why it needs to stop.

How many children are sexually abused?
• 1 out of every 3 to 5 girls is sexually abused before the age of 18.
• 1 out of every 5 to 7 boys is sexually abused before the age of 18

What is their relationship to their abuser?
• 93% of children that are sexually abused know their abuser.
Of those,
• 59% are acquaintances (someone you know).
• 34% are family members.
• And only 7% were strangers.

Who tells? Up until now…
• About 1 out of every 3 to 4 girls never tell anyone about their sexual abuse – not even a friend or sibling.
• About 1 out of every 2 to 3 boys never tell anyone about their sexual abuse – not even a friend or sibling.

Evaluation
Though this website has not been put up yet and both my supervisor and I were frustrated at the pace at which the web site pages came together, while we were working to build the site we were also working to build the mission of the organization. While I wrote to the youth that has been abused, I was working to use the best words to give the most information.
The next step in the process of creating this website and to put it into actions is to finalize the page, to get them up on web and then to spread the word about the website so that sexual abused children can access it and get the information they need.