The Women's Center for Advancement implements the Green Dot Violence Prevention Strategy

By Cheril Lee

Omaha, NE – Omaha's Women's Center for Advancement is participating in a new program based on the Green Dot violence prevention strategy.

Lynn Pollitt, Education and Prevention Director for the WCA, says the Green Dot program is about positive bystander engagement. She says the violence prevention strategy helps people overcome their reluctance to get involved when there is a crime happening.

Pollitt says statistics show about 60% of the time when a crime occurs there is someone else present besides the victim and the perpetrator. But only 15% of the time does the bystander do something. Pollitt says the program teaches bystanders three ways to get involved: through direct action, delegation or distraction

"And it's not just about violence against women, it's about violence in general. Everyone can do something but we don't have to do everything. So it's helping people learn what are their barriers to getting involved and then giving them the skills to overcome that so we can stop the behavior."

Pollitt says the goal of the Green Dot prevention strategy is to help stop violence from happening in the first place. The program has been taught at UNO and Creighton. It'll be taken to area high schools and other colleges in the Omaha community in the near future.

For details on the program, the website is livethegreendot.com.