FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION
One Step at a Time
With our organization’s mission always in mind, we strive to find new strategies for preventing sexual assault and supporting survivors. We do so through formal and informal education work. Education is something that we take very seriously, and we work to make a positive impact.
FORMAL EDUCATION
Making a difference
We Will works together with community members and local, state, and national leaders to instigate change in formal education.
More about formal education
We Will focuses on formal education because sexual assault is preventable through formal education. This is proven by various studies. As students learn about important sexual assault concepts, they learn how to prevent assault from happening to themselves and others. Further, as students come to understand these concepts, they learn the tools they need in order to best respond when an assault happens to themselves or someone they know, and therefore, the effects of the assault can be mitigated as soon as possible.
We Will works with parents to help them become advocates for their children and to understand what concerns parents may have when the state institutes a more comprehensive sexual education program.
We Will turns to community members to help them understand what education changes will make a difference and to empower them to also advocate for the cause of improved sexual education with their local, state, and national leaders.
Finally, We Will works with local, state, and national leaders to bring sexual education concerns to the attention of those who can make a lasting, permanent change in the law. These permanent changes will teach would-be victims how to protect themselves and also teach would-be assailants what is wrong. It will allow the teachers to relay information on what a student should do if they one day are assaulted, making sure students know what resources are available.
Research is vital to accomplishing these goals. Therefore, in each of these areas We Will conducts various research projects to understand which areas of work are most important, which projects work in various areas, and to display to leaders why this work is so important.
INFORMAL EDUCATION
Beyond the classroom
If we are to make lasting change, we must also look beyond the classroom to reach out to those who the traditional classroom cannot reach. As such, We Will has created an initiative which focuses on informal education measures that will help prevent sexual assault and support survivors.
More about Informal Education
We Will has a few ways in which we make a difference using informal education.
Our primary means for extending our informal education measures is through social media initiatives.
The first main initiative is the #WomanOfTheWeek initiative where each week we feature a woman who has been sexually assaulted who shares her story and words of encouragement with us. When available, we also look to share men's sexual assault stories, as this is very much an issue affecting men as well. Posting the stories of survivors allows others to learn what constitutes assault and what resources are available through personal experiences. It also encourages more silent survivors to speak out and seek support.
A second initiative is simply making resources easy to find on our social media and internet pages. We post vocabulary critical to understanding and describing an assault. We also refer survivors to other resources.
Our third social media-related initiative is posting inspirational messages to survivors so they know that there is hope.
Additionally, we will occasionally share news stories related to sexual assault survivors or legislative changes, which helps to educate individuals about the issues their community is facing.
Finally, we host community events which educate individuals and empower them
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Find out more about our initiatives on Facebook and Instagram. Please follow and like our pages to show your support.