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Area Teens Work to End Dating Violence

Teens from Stamford, Greenwich and Norwalk gathered at the Government Center on Tuesday to mark National Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Month.

According to a survey from the Connecticut Department of Health, 10 percent of teens were involved in a physically abusive relationship in the past year, while 17 percent were in an emotionally or verbally abusive relationship. 

On Tuesday afternoon, teenagers from the Mayor's Youth Leadership Council at , YNet at the , and the Center for Youth Leadership at — among other area organizations and schools, gathered in the 's lobby to raise awareness about teen dating violence.

Some wore t-shirts representing their organization, while others had painted shirts for the occasion. Many carried homemade signs bearing messages including "Love is Respect" and "Don't Turn Your Back on Dating Violence."

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"I'm here with these girls from ," Jessica Jarahian, a family advocate, told Patch. "We have a group called Peaceworks, a project of the Domestic Violence Crisis Center. We're excited to be here. They all made their shirts yesterday."

The young activists from Stamford Academy were easy to spot in the crowd, dressed in their purple shirts with the words "Teen Dating Violence Prevention" displayed on the back.

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Kerrin Kinnear and Connor Stapleton are two members of the executive board for the YNet Program of the Greenwich YMCA.

"We're trying to get a policy passed where teachers will have to educate students about dating violence," Stapleton said.

Lindsay Swatland, a member of the Mayor's Youth Leadership Council, was the first to speak. The crowd of teenagers were suddenly quiet as Swatland read the names and stories of local teenagers whose lives came to an early end because of dating violence.

"We're here to honor people my age who experience dating violence," Swatland said. "We've influenced change,  as evidenced by the teen dating violence law we helped to pass last year."

The group worked with State Representatives Gerry Fox and Terri Wood, along with the Legislative Task Force on Domestic Violence, to pass PA10-91 in 2010.

Swatland outlined the ways that the groups work to make an impact through raising public awareness, running volunteer programs, and creating social change. They have already set some ambitious goals for the coming year, including revising Connecticut's bullying laws to include dating violence and creating protocol for schools investigating dating violence on campus.

"[We're working to] create a law that would allow teens to obtain restraining orders," Swatland said.

In 2006, Congress named the first full week of February as National Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Week. Just last year, the entire month of February was designated as National Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Month.

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