How We Reduce Harm in Marshall

 

I spent seven years trying to obtain funding so that WoMen’s Rural Advocacy Programs (WRAP), based in Marshall, could create a prevention and harm reduction program for youth. We finally received the funding in March 2024. Funds are scarce in Minnesota to create programs that reduce risky decisions and prevent crimes against rural youth.

Historically, WRAP serves domestic violence victims. We have grown over the past seven years to also support people who have experienced human trafficking, exploitation, and sexual assault, as well as to address the needs of high-risk youth.

Although all youth can make unhealthy choices, some have more odds stacked against them. I was a high-risk kid. Unlike many of my friends, however, I had a good support person: my mom. Many of my friends are living with addiction or in prison, experiencing chaotic lives; a few of them have died from overdoses.

What I carried into adulthood is that youth can only achieve their full potential when given resources to reduce the harm that naturally comes in life.

Youth will make undesirable decisions, as I did. We cannot fully prevent youth crime, but we can reduce the risk and harm.

I realized in college that the resources my friends needed when we were young were not available, or we did not know they existed. This is the primary reason my focus today is to support programs in schools. Not only does the visibility in schools reach youth that immediately need services, but it provides information to youth that can encourage their friends to seek help or support.

 

 

I have been trained to facilitate the Not a Number curriculum by Love 146. I believe in the curriculum so much that I also train others to facilitate. The primary focus is on preventing human trafficking, but the curriculum touches on so much more: dating violence, sexual assault, vulnerabilities, self-esteem, red flags, and safety planning. The five-day curriculum has been welcomed in our communities by health teachers.

We know that many agencies like ours haven’t been as welcomed. We recognize that we discuss big topics, but we have had disclosures of violence in every class.

WRAP has presented the curriculum to six schools in our four-county service area. I prefer to connect this curriculum with ninth- and tenth-grade students. In one quarter alone, we presented to 148 students.

I have learned from the students in each class, and I sense their growth. I know they take things away that will protect them. The teachers we partner with have told us they, too, have learned from the curriculum.

Why This Works

My dream for the agency, the youth in our community, and my career has been more successful than people from my youth would have expected from me — including teachers, law enforcement, and family members. I defeated odds that many of my closest friends have not.

I have had this success because of support I have received from my kids, my mom, my family, my coworkers, my boss — who never told me no when I shared my big dreams — and my husband, who has given up everything to make my dream happen.

We need to support kids, rather than shame them. We need to quit telling kids that they should not make risky decisions — because they will. We need, instead, to give them information to reduce harm. The dream is possible.

 

 

Are you looking for or part of solutions to work with high-risk youth in your community? We want to hear from you. Contact community@womenspress.com with “Youth” in the subject line.