The Green Dot Strategy

The green dot strategy is a comprehensive violence prevention approach that capitalizes on the power of peer and cultural influence.  Informed by social change theory, the model targets all community members as potential bystanders.  Through awareness, education, and skills-practice, individuals are encouraged to engage in proactive behaviors that establish intolerance of violence as the norm, as well as reactive interventions in high-risk situations. Specifically, the program targets socially influential individuals and gives them the skills to integrate moments of prevention within existing relationships and daily activities.  By doing so, new norms will be introduced and those within their sphere of influence will be significantly influenced to become proactively involved.