Click photo to enlarge.
On Boltwood Walk until 5:00 Wednesday afternoon is a bright and colorful line of T-shirts, painted and decorated with vibrant messages. Once you step closer though, you realize those messages are intense and disturbing. They are about violence, rape and abuse. Most are angry. Some question why. All are part of the “Youth Clothesline Project,” a teen program from the UMass Everywoman’s Center that promotes awareness and healing among victims and witnesses of violence and sexual assault.
The T-shirts are created by those who have been abused, those exposed to abuse, and those who are outraged by it. This is the third display of the Youth Clothesline Project, and the first in Amherst. The previous two have been in Northampton. Its purpose is to draw attention to the issues of violence toward youth in the Pioneer Valley, and to promote programs that are available to help. In addition to the Everywoman’s Center, information tables and representatives from Womanshelter/Compañeras of Holyoke, Amherst Family Center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Hampshire County were on hand mid-day, and other agencies from around the area were expected.
Tanya Kachwaha is Director of Community Education for Everywoman’s Center, and serves as its Youth Educator. She said the group chose the Boltwood Walk area adjacent to the Unitarian Meetinghouse in order to bring their message directly to their target audience. “This is where the youth hang out in Amherst in the afternoon,” she said.
Kachawa said it was also a centralized location for reaching UMass students, who are often new to the area, and to make them aware of the kinds of help and services that are available to them if they are victims of family or relationship violence.
And among those available services are crisis hotlines, support groups, individualized counseling and referrals, assistance with transitional living arrangements, and other forms of youth advocacy.
Nina Brand is Everywoman’s Center’s Teen Crisis Intervention Specialist. She works with school-based youth groups and provides counseling and phone support to middle school- and high school-aged victims and witnesses of violence. She spoke with guidance counselors at Amherst High School to encourage classes to walk over and check out the exhibit and the information tables.
Anyone who is inspired to may create a T-shirt today as well, said Brand. The Unitarian Meetinghouse has made space available inside their building for that purpose. The shirts then become part of the exhibit. The collection currently totals about 600, more than 100 of which are part of this display.
Carmen Nieves is Community Educator for Womanshelter/Compañeras. She said “We’re here to support the project and let people know about teen dating violence and programs dealing with unhealthy relationships.”
Nancy deProsse is Coordinator of Amherst Family Center which is located in the Unitarian Meetinghouse, and runs a Young Parents group for teens and other young parents. “We want to let kids coming to the Clothesline Project know about these programs.”
In addition to the Unitarians opening their space for making T-shirts, other community support for the exhibition has come from the Loose Goose, Panda East, Bart’s and Rao’s, who all generously provided refreshments for the event.
Resources for those seeking help with issues of violence toward youth include:
Everywoman’s Center
Connection to Nina Brand and specialized teen services: 577-0752, xt.1
24-hour hotline staffed by volunteer counselor advocates: 545-0800
www.umass.edu/ewc -- links to teen programs are available.
Womanshelter/Compañeras
24-hour crisis and support line: 536-1628, or toll-free: 877-536-1628
www.womanshelter.org
Amherst Family Center
http://cshrc.org/familycenter.php
--Stephanie O’Keeffe
Click photo to enlarge.
Click photo to enlarge.
Click photo to enlarge.
