Northwest to sponsor ‘Take Back the Night’

The Northwest Missouri State University community is invited to take a stand against violence as the university’s Green Dot initiative and Concerned Advocates for Relationship Equality (CARE) sponsor “Take Back the Night.”

The event begins at 6:30 pm, Wednesday, November 8, at the JW Jones Student Union Living Room. The program will feature speakers sharing their experiences with sexual and domestic violence. Additionally, representatives of various campus and community organizations will be on hand to discuss the resources available to students.

The event will continue with a candlelight march on the Northwest campus. Light refreshments also will be served.

“We need events like Take Back the Night because ignoring relationship and sexual violence doesn’t make it go away,” Danielle Koonce, Northwest’s Green Dot coordinator, said. “Through providing a supportive space for survivors to share their stories and by highlighting available resources, we hope to not only educate and raise awareness, but move people to act when they see a potential moment of violence. Just one small thing can have a greater impact than you might know.”

The Take Back the Night Foundation is a national non-profit organization founded on a movement that began in the 1970s to combat sexual violence and abuse on campuses and in communities around the world. Take Back the Night aims to empower survivors in the healing process and inspires responsibility with a goal to create safe communities and respectful relationships through awareness events and initiatives.

The foundation reports that one out of every three women and one in six men worldwide experience some form of sexual violence or intimate partner violence, but less than 50 percent of victims report the crimes.