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Hubbard House launches \u2018Not My City\u2019 initiative to engage men in prevention Equipping men to have difficult conversations<\/p>\nJACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Hubbard House is launching a new initiative designed to bring more men into the conversation about domestic violence prevention, with the ultimate goal of creating violence-free relationships throughout the community.<\/p>\n
Joe Kovacosi, incoming chair of the Hubbard House Board of Directors, joined Kristine Bellino in the studio on In Depth to discuss the new \u201cNot My City\u201d initiative and why the organization believes prevention starts with engaging men and boys before violence occurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make every relationship violence free,\u201d Kovacosi said.<\/p>\n
The initiative was made possible through a grant and builds on Hubbard House\u2019s longstanding partnership with Men Against Violence Against Women (MAVAW). While that program has existed for years, Kovacosi said the new effort is designed to be more grassroots-focused and reach people where they live, work and socialize.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always resonated really, really well with women, but not necessarily as well with men,\u201d Kovacosi said. \u201cSo this is our initiative to get out there and really kind of get men involved in the mission of Hubbard House.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than focusing only on helping survivors after abuse has occurred, Hubbard House hopes to emphasize prevention through education and conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not only treating survivors, but we\u2019re also teaching our men, our young men, parents, friends, peer groups how to deal with and ideally prevent domestic violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hubbard House launches \u2018Not My City\u2019 initiative to engage men in prevention Equipping men to have difficult conversations<\/p>\n
Bellino noted that changing culture and even changing the language people use can be part of reducing violence. Kovacosi agreed that communication matters, but said the larger issue is teaching men how to navigate difficult situations and conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s more of teaching men how to have these conversations with their peers or their children, to establish boundaries, to discuss consent with parents and their children, be it daughters or sons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said men also need tools and strategies to intervene when someone in their social circles is struggling with unhealthy relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re in a male-to-male peer group and you have someone that\u2019s struggling in their relationships, it\u2019s teaching your children ways to react and get those aggressive tendencies out in safe means,\u201d Kovacosi said.<\/p>\n
The goal, he said, is to empower men throughout Jacksonville to recognize warning signs and help prevent abuse before it happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a difficult conversation, and this is a way for us to engage and energize the men throughout Jacksonville in this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Men can also be victims<\/p>\n
While domestic violence is predominantly committed by men, Kovacosi emphasized that men can also become victims and deserve support.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do have men that are victims of domestic violence as well, and they need to be able to be supported and be given options and understand unsafe situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that men are responsible for the majority of domestic violence offenses, but said Hubbard House wants to address the underlying causes rather than only responding after abuse has taken place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to talk about survivors,\u201d Kovacosi said. \u201cWe want to talk about prevention of domestic violence and minimize it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Progress, but more work remains<\/p>\n
Bellino asked whether Hubbard House has seen local impacts from its outreach efforts.<\/p>\n
Kovacosi said there has been some stabilization even as Jacksonville\u2019s population continues to grow, but the organization has not yet achieved its ultimate objective.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re being effective, we\u2019re helping survivors, but we are not hitting the end goal,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want everything, every relationship to be violence free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Businesses and organizations encouraged to participate<\/p>\n
Kovacosi said businesses, men\u2019s groups, fraternities and other organizations can become involved by inviting speakers from Hubbard House or Men Against Violence Against Women to discuss domestic violence prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can get our representatives out and talk to these groups to start spreading the message of Not My City,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Individuals interested in joining the Men Against Violence Against Women initiative can visit the Hubbard House website and sign a pledge to live free of domestic violence.<\/p>\n
Bellino noted that simply talking about domestic violence can be challenging because many people are uncomfortable discussing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to talk about,\u201d Kovacosi acknowledged.<\/p>\n
He said there are often situations in which friends, family members or bystanders know violence is occurring but do not intervene.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s too many times where someone\u2019s aware of domestic violence happening or occurring and it just requires some intervention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need those bystanders, those friends, families, those mentors, those men, those role models to intervene and prevent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Male Engagement Meeting scheduled June 30<\/p>\n
Hubbard House\u2019s Male Engagement Meeting and the launch of the Not My City initiative will take place Tuesday, June 30, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Cox Media Group Jacksonville\u2019s Farr and Farr Performance Studio, located at 11700 Central Parkway in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
The event will officially kick off the new program and provide attendees with information about ways they can become involved.<\/p>\n
Participation and speaker opportunities are available at no cost through the grant supporting the initiative.<\/p>\n
Those who are unable to attend but would like to request a speaker for their office or organization can email education@hubbardhouse.org<\/a> to learn about available opportunities.<\/p>\n Kovacosi said visibility and community presence remain important parts of the effort, something reflected even in his trademark purple sneakers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a way for us to be present in the community and recognizable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u25b6 Listen to Jacksonville\u2019s Morning News Interviews<\/a><\/p>\n [\u00a0Read more local news from WOKV<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and traffic app. And click here<\/a> to subscribe to our daily 3 Big Things newsletter.<\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Hubbard House is launching a new initiative designed to bring more men into the conversation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[132144,132143,794,28,5712,132142,116,118,117,132146,132145],"class_list":["post-318014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-domestic-violence-awareness-florida","tag-domestic-violence-prevention","tag-duval","tag-florida","tag-hubbard-house","tag-hubbard-house-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-nonprofits","tag-not-my-city-initiative"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}