Men Can Stop Rape

MCSR is committed to deepening movement building by continuing to mobilize young people to create cultures free from violence. Our signature MOST Club programming is present in over 120 locations throughout 15 states; our public education materials have been used in all 50 states and 12 countries internationally; and our training and technical assistance has served thousands of professionals around the world. For over a decade, MCSR has served as a leader in the movement to engage boys and men in preventing and ending gender-based violence. In recent years, we have expanded our mission to create sustained opportunities for girls and young women to speak out about how gender-based violence has affected their selfhood. Their experiences and voices are integral to our mission of creating cultures free from violence. MCSR takes a public health approach to youth development and holds violence prevention in tandem with academic, professional, and relational success. Our programs have been evaluated and replicated nationwide; are considered a best practice in the field; and have also received numerous accolades. Based on the success and sustainability of our work, MCSR began collaborating with the District Mayor's office on the city's Truancy Initiative two years ago. This past year we implemented MOST and WISE Clubs in 48 locations for boys and girls in middle school and high school, directly serving over 700 students and indirectly reaching thousands more through Community Strength Projects and public education campaigns. MCSR has created two sexual assault apps/websites for the District: U ASK DC (www.uaskdc.org) offers college students at eight universities comprehensive campus-specific and community resources for dealing with a sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence. ASK DC (www.askdc.org) combines over 55 life-saving resources for victims of sexual assault and intimate partner violence and is available in 8 languages. Over 17,000 people have accessed UASK and ASK, and we are expanding ASK into three new states. In 2012, we launched the Healthy Masculinity Action Project (HMAP) which has included a national summit, a report, regional town halls, twitter town halls, campus conversations, webinars, and trainings. To date, we have reached over 60 million people with messages of healthy, nonviolent masculinity. As we spend the next two years organizing this movement, we anticipate that millions more people will not only be reached but will also learn how to meaningfully integrate healthy, nonviolent masculinity into their every-day lives, thus furthering our mission to create cultures free from violence, especially men's violence against women and girls. Our next HMAP project will be a Youth Summit to take place in April 2016. At our Youth Summit students from all Wards of the city will join together for a day that honors their commitment to social justice, asks them to investigate more deeply their experiences of healthy masculinity and empowered womanhood, and to mobilize to take lessons learned at the Youth Summit back to their schools. We have already begun forming student committees that will lead the planning and design of the summit, ensuring it is tailored to youth needs. Students will convene in October of this year to formalize the planning process for this exciting event.