Violence Prevention
Men and Boys Prevent Violence Against Women and Children
  ost programs designed to prevent domestic violence and violence against women are geared toward females. In the overwhelming majority of cases, however, men commit the violence. While some organizations have focused on involving adult and young men following an outbreak of violence, few programs for men and boys are designed to foster a sense of responsibility and help program participants develop the skills to prevent male violence. TCWF provided a two-year, $75,000 grant for core operating support to MOVE (Men Overcoming Violence), a San Francisco-based organization
working to end male violence.
  Established in 1981, MOVE is best known for its efforts to prevent repeat acts of violence by adult and youth male perpetrators. Six years ago, the organization expanded its focus to include relationship violence prevention among youth through
services provided in schools and community-based service organizations. The organization’s success in both these program areas has caused the organization to grow steadily each year. To help sustain itself during this period of rapid growth and to expand its fundraising capacity, MOVE used a portion of its TCWF core operating grant towards the salary of a new part-time development director.
MOVE’s services include: individual, family and group therapy for men who complete a batterer intervention program; student-run support groups and teen-dating violence prevention for youth ages 12 to 20 in public schools and in community-based service centers; mentoring and training for high school peer educators; and regular workshops for young men at San Francisco’s juvenile hall.
  “We try to teach that the roles we play in our families can be flexible,” said Allan Silva, acting
executive director of MOVE. “We can think out of the box about what it means to be a man.”
MOVE has found the use of role-playing and drama therapy to be highly effective in helping
program participants examine gender roles and create change based on personal transformation.
MOVE’s client base is ethnically diverse, serving approximately 400 adult men and 50 young men through the batterer programs and more than a thousand youth, male and female, annually through its work
in schools and community-based organizations.
“An important service evolution for us is that we are getting involved in
mobilizing communities around preventing male violence,” MOVE’s Silva said. “It
is empowering for the men and boys in our programs to engage in social change.”
Program participants are encouraged to create social change first within
their own families and then in their communities—through participation in
violence prevention marches, rallies and related activities.
“MOVE is part of a larger movement for men to be more involved in ending
violence against women,” TCWF’s Balaoing said. “That means getting boys and men
involved in domestic violence prevention before the violence starts or spreads.”
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