Empowering Young Men In Ending Sexual Exploitation

Progress Report on the Implementation of

CAASE’s New Prevention Curriculum:

Empowering Young Men to End Sexual Exploitation

            While the schools that we partner with have been on summer vacation, the Education Outreach team at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation has remained hard at work.  Thank you for the generous support that has made the work possible.  In the 2010-11 school year, CAASE brought its curriculum into seven schools and taught over 700 young men.  The goal for the 2011-12 school year is to partner with ten schools in order to reach 1000 young men and empower them to become allies ready to stand against sexual exploitation and violence.  During the summer months CAASE’s educator contacted the ten perspective schools, and will begin meeting with teachers, counselors, and principals very soon.

            In addition to expanding its number of school partnerships, CAASE has also finished a “toolkit” designed for teachers to use in their classrooms.  The “toolkit” can be used to continue the conversation about ending sexual exploitation after a class of young men has participated in Empowering Young Men, or to begin one between the young men and women in a class.  The “toolkit” has a wide array of lesson plans that range from discussions about gender stereotypes to creating practical solutions for reducing gender-based violence.  It also encourages teachers to incorporate some of the activities across a variety of academic disciplines, and provides suggestions on how to do this.  The “toolkit” is not intended to be a stand-alone curriculum, but rather a catalog of ideas for supplementing a teacher’s pre-existing lesson plans.

            By expanding the number of partnering schools and creating a teacher “toolkit,” CAASE is increasing both the breadth and depth of Empowering Young Men.  The 2010-11 school year was a tremendous success by all measures, and we at CAASE hope to build upon this success as we enter a new academic year.  Please continue to support us and GlobalGiving in empowering and equipping young leaders to create a world free from sexual exploitation, violence, and harm.