School and College Organization for Prevention Educators (SCOPE) Launches Today

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — JUNE 15, 2011

A New Membership Association -- SCOPE

Today, the School and College Organization for Prevention Educators (SCOPE) opened its doors and began welcoming its first members. SCOPE serves as an interdisciplinary hub for prevention educators. SCOPE is the first organization of its kind to encompass the full breadth and depth of the field of prevention. SCOPE prioritizes the advancement of primary prevention research, practice and implementation.

Schools, communities, agencies, colleges and universities all over the world employ prevention professionals who are tasked with addressing a range of high risk violence, health and safety issues, but until now, no membership association has been able to bring these dedicated educators into community with one another. SCOPE fills that need.

SCOPE was created by a generous grant from the parents of a college student who wish to remain anonymous. Through their generosity, SCOPE can function and thrive independently as a not-for-profit association of like-minded professionals who serve the prevention needs of schools, colleges and communities in the United States and internationally.

Why SCOPE?

Prevention professionals have historically joined professional associations, participated in listservs and attended conferences in their specific disciplines. This has resulted in the compartmentalization of prevention efforts by subfields. SCOPE recognizes that there are more commonalities to prevention efforts than there are distinctions. What alcohol abuse educators know can benefit what sexual violence prevention specialists do. Prevention of hazing and bullying have much in common. Additionally, we know that many areas of prevention intersect. SCOPE aims to bridge subfields by joining prevention professionals from across the prevention disciplines together to learn from one another, explore best practices and further shared goals.

At the launch, Founding Executive Director Michelle Issadore stated, “As a prevention educator for many years, I am intimately familiar with the need for this organization. The response we have received prior to our launch from members of the prevention field has been overwhelmingly positive. We look forward to joining forces with new members and partners to raise the profile of primary prevention.”

The SCOPE Annual International Conference

Conferences focused at school, college and community audiences address sexual assault, eating disorders, peer education, advocacy, alcohol abuse, hazing, drug abuse, bullying, bystander intervention, suicide, mental health and other risks. Until now, no conference has gathered prevention professionals in a multi-disciplinary setting to guide, shape and lead the prevention field. SCOPE’s Annual International Conference will bring school, college and community prevention educators together to share resources, apply research, and empower the synergies that result from bringing the disparate constituencies of prevention together into common cause.

SCOPE Knowledge Groups

Knowledge Groups are a central SCOPE resource. Knowledge Groups represent specific content areas relevant to the field of prevention. Members participate in one or more Knowledge Groups, as well as having access to topical materials. SCOPE’s

Knowledge Groups include:

• Advocacy
• Alcohol Abuse
• Bullying
• Bystander Intervention
• Drug Abuse
• Eating Disorders
• Hazing
• Mental Health
• Peer Education
• Primary Prevention
• Relationship/Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence
• Research
• Sexual Assault
• Social Norms
• Stalking
• Suicide

Another of SCOPE’s Advisory Board members, Feministing.com editor Courtney Martin, was interviewed about the launch and had this to say, “Just about every social justice issue that I write about--whether in one of my blog posts for Feministing, an opinion piece for The American Prospect, or in book form--winds around to the critical need for more focus on prevention. SCOPE is supporting impassioned, dedicated people who are working on this mission. It is solutions-oriented, systemically-sophisticated, and destined to create real change.”

The SCOPE Mission

SCOPE embraces an ecological, inclusive, holistic, feminist, public health, evidence-based and multi-disciplinary vision of prevention. To effectively promote the aims of the prevention community, SCOPE members deeply examine the causes of violence, health and safety risks within society — including hate, intolerance, apathy, gender bias, racism, homophobia, stigmatization of mental health, objectification of the human body, ignorance, predation and discrimination — to foster effective, interconnected, strategic prevention.

Contact SCOPE

For more information, please visit www.WeAreSCOPE.org or contact:

Michelle Issadore, M.Ed., Executive Director
execdir@wearescope.org
610-993-0227

To join SCOPE, please visit WeAreSCOPE.org/join

More Voices About SCOPE

“For over 15 years I have provided preventive legal assistance to schools and colleges. I am delighted that there is now an organization for all the dedicated individuals engaged in preventive care, training and advocacy at our institutions to have a collective voice and outlet for sharing expertise, research and resources.”

Saunie Schuster, former Senior Assistant Attorney General and General Counsel and currently a Partner at NCHERM
_____________________

"There is too much fantastic prevention work going on for any practitioners to work in a vacuum. SCOPE offers the opportunity for us to learn from, support and grow with each other so that we can achieve truly effective prevention to address a variety of challenges. Men Can Stop Rape is tremendously excited to collaborate with and help build the organization that is going to facilitate that process."

Joe Vess, Men Can Stop Rape
_____________________

"With unprecedented Title IX guidelines newly in place, it's an exciting time for a group of independent dedicated professionals to come together to inject new energy into the critical goal of primary prevention."

Wendy Murphy, New England Law|Boston
_____________________

"Outreach and prevention programming are essentials element for counselors, psychologists and social workers who work in education and communities. These dynamic educational programs, clinical screenings and orientation events with students, parents, faculty and staff are critical to foster social adjustment and academic success. SCOPE offers a professional home for those who program, train and educate in schools, colleges, universities and communities."

Dr. Brian Van Brunt, President of the American College Counseling Association (2010-2011)
_____________________

"The dire issues that feminists seek to address intersect with one another and the best solutions always draw from various movements. I'm excited to see what manifesting this intersectional approach will do for the emotional, psychological, and physical safety of young people on campuses."

Jennifer Baumgardner, author, educator, and activist
_____________________

"Our brightest hope for ending violence against women is effective prevention efforts with young people. SCOPE offers an opportunity for professionals working toward this goal to share best practices and creative ideas, as well as to support one another in this difficult work."

Heather L. Horton, Ph.D., Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, Psychologist, Colorado College
_____________________

“SCOPE is about global prevention, not just in the sense of international efforts, but in terms of SCOPE’s scope. To me, global means connecting the dots between disparate sources of harm and violence so that knowledge sharing is truly transformative. The research of David Lisak and others, for example, shows us that those likely to commit sexual violence are also highly likely to be non-sexual abusers. What are the roots of that connection, and what are its solutions? When we look at Seung-Hui Cho, and the carnage he caused at Virginia Tech, we tend to overlook his history of ideation of self-harm, his stalking behaviors, and history of sexual harassment. We must respect the distinctions in the etiology of different forms of violence, but we must also learn from the intersectionality.”

Brett A. Sokolow, Esq., Managing Partner, NCHERM

www.WeAreSCOPE.org