What is Green Dot?

The Green Dot Strategy

Green Dot is a nationally recognized strategy focused on preventing power-based personal violence - sexual violence, partner violence, child abuse, elder abuse, bullying, and stalking. The strategy is based on the belief that each of us holds power as bystanders to actively prevent violence and shape our community norms. Green Dot creates a community that believes violence of any kind is not okay, and we all must do our part to stop violence.

Our goal is to train our communities so they will intervene or stop a situation of harm (a red dot) and to influence community norms through words, actions, and attitudes. Green Dots are choices people make so it is less likely that violence or a red dot shows up on our community map. 

Red Dots

It's important that we connect to the reality that people all around us have experienced some kind of violence. We call these types of violence power-based personal violence, which are acts like child abuse, partner violence, harassment, and/or sexual assault. These types of violence affect many, even friends and family. Every 73 seconds an American is sexually assaulted, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner, and almost 5 children a day die from child abuse in the United States. That is way too many people being hurt. 

Violence in our community is a collection of individual choices to do harm. And each choice to do harm is a red dot added to our community map. A red dot is a moment in time when someone chooses to use their words or actions to harm someone else. Enough of these red dots have added up to create unacceptable levels of violence in our community. 

Reactive Green Dots

Violence prevention must mirror the problem of violence. In the same way that violence is a collection of individual choices to do harm, we can stop violence in our community with our individual choices to step in and intervene. Every choice to intervene is a Green Dot. 

The 3 Ds

Direct: You feel comfortable handling a red dot situation directly. Maybe you can tell the acquaintance at the bar, "I think she's too drunk to leave with you" or tell your friend, "You promised we'd stick together tonight." 

Delegate: Maybe you are shy. Maybe you don't want to look like a snitch. Get someone else to intervene. Find her friends. Get his brother. Call 911. Make an anonymous report to your supervisor. Talk to someone who can step in and help.

Distract: Create a diversion that interrupts a choice to do a red dot. Shout, "Hey, your car is getting towed!" Or spill your drink on one of them and take them to get cleaned up.

Proactive Green Dots

1. Create/Join a Green Dot club.
2. Tell your friends about how you intervened.
3. Post a bystander link or bystander video on social media.
4. Retell a cool Green Dot story you heard.
5. Refer someone to a Green Dot workshop.
6. Hang a Green Dot poster in your office
7. Use a Green Dot email signature
8. Wear Green Dot gear. 
   
9. Have a conversation about why this issue is important to you.