The purpose of the “public relations safety” campaign is to engage various entities in spreading a message of anti-violence in our community. The campaign will also focus upon shedding light on our existing resources and strengths to help change pervasive negative perceptions. This positive community message will inevitably help to create safer neighborhoods in New Bedford and increased community resources.

The following is a synopsis of some of the components of the campaign:

• It will also create a culture that denounces violence and engages the community in violence prevention.
• The proposed approach will be multi-disciplinary, and intends to affect economic, political and social arenas to promote safety in our New Bedford community.
• The proposed activities intend to both increase resources and promote harm reduction.
• The priority is to change the pervasive mindset plaguing our community by bringing attention to the positive and reaching out to parents and youth in an effective way.

For a PDF version of the entire Campaign document, please go to http://www.umassd.edu/catls/initiatives/antiviolence.pdf