Education and Outreach Committee

The Education and Outreach Committee, chaired by Assistant State's Attorney Debbie Feinstein, works to educate the community on domestic violence, and outreach to Montgomery County residents on the services available to support domestic violence victims and survivors. 

The Education and Outreach Committee continued to focus on its teen dating violence prevention initiative during the past year. This initiative, titled Choose Respect Montgomery, includes four primary programs: the event for teens, their parents, educators, and youth service providers; the video contest for teens; and the healthy teen dating curriculum presentations which are presented in the County’s middle and high schools and the programs for athletes. This year, the Committee promoted Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October 2023, held RespectFest virtually and in person, and distributed awareness materials on family violence prevention services.  Highlights from each of these activities, as well as recommendations for the future, are in the 2024 Annual Report. For more information please click the links below. 
  • RespectFest
    RespectFest is a festival for teens (grades 6 - 12), their parents, educators, and youth service providers. Please visit  ​https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/fjc/chooserespect/ for more information.
     
  • Annual Video Contest
    Every year, students who live in Montgomery County are invited to submit a 60-second PSA about dating violence (in English or Spanish). The winners are announced at the annual Choose Respect Conference. To see 2023's winners, please visit the Choose Respect page. 
     
  • Expect Respect Curriculum Presentations
    Trained facilitators are available to present a 45-minute interactive workshop on teen dating violence for 8th - 12th-grade students. These presentations are typically done in Health classes, however, facilitators are available to present to any class, club, after-school group, or youth gathering. To request a training, please contact  Ashley Noy.
     
  • Programs for Athletes
    The Choose Respect Initiative coordinates 2 programs for athletes in schools. For more information, please contact  Ashley Noy.
    • Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM) is a free toolkit that utilizes the unique and important role that coaches play in the lives of young men. These comprehensive tools assist coaches in planning important discussions with athletes about respect for women and girls, and that violence doesn’t equal strength. Through CBIM, male athletes learn skills to avoid violence and abuse in their relationships. This program is currently being hosted in 7 Montgomery County Public Schools to exceptional results.
    • Athletes as Leaders is a program for high school athletes on girls’ sports teams.  The program aims to empower female-identified youth to take an active role in promoting healthy relationships and ending sexual violence. Athletes are encouraged to be leaders in changing social norms at the school to a culture of safety and respect. The program will be piloted in Montgomery County in the Fall of 2018.
       
  • Multi-Language Information Cards
    These cards simply state, “Are you afraid of your partner? Free help is available,” with the address and phone number of the Family Justice Center in the 16 most commonly spoken languages in Montgomery County – English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Amharic, Korean, Swahili, Igbo, Arabic, Tagalog, Russian, Urdu, Hindi, Vietnamese, Farsi and Portuguese. The Committee wanted to ensure that the cards were accessible to low literacy populations, and to more people who speak different languages. If you would like to distribute these cards, please contact  Ashley Noy.