April 30, 2009 – The Teen Relationship Education and Empowerment (TREE) program has had several successful events in its first four months. These include a workshop with 10 churches represented, drama performances and others.
A faith-based initiative against teen relationship violence, TREE was founded in December 2008 with a $50,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health. The grant went to a coalition of local churches, community health professionals and University of Missouri to create programming to help Columbia churches address teen relationship violence. Columbia’s Broadway Christian Church submitted the grant, with project development and administrative support from University of Missouri’s Center on Religion & the Professions.
The project kicked off with a Feb. 22 workshop with about 40 people gathering to learn about teen relationship violence, resources, and how religious communities can address the issue and help teens involved in violent relationships.
Recent local events include:
- Rock Bridge Christian Church – Parent/teen program, March 29
- Broadway Christian Church – Integration of “Choose Respect” video/curriculum into junior high “lock-in” event, April 4-5
- Troubling Violence Performance Project performance for TREE members and supporters, April 15
- Unitarian Universalist Church – Troubling Violence Performance Project performance for Our Whole Lives program, April 19
- TREE participants attended Green Dot Prevent Strategy workshop with sexual and domestic violence educator Dr. Dorothy Edwards, April 21-23
- Calvary Episcopal Church – Four-part series for their youth, April-May
- Steve McMullen, RAVE (Religion and Violence E-learning) team leader from New Brunswick, Canada, presented on the RAVE project to participating TREE churches and supporters, April 25
- Calvary Episcopal Church – Troubling Violence Performance Project visit to youth group, April 26
Upcoming:
- Calvary Episcopal Church – Troubling Violence Performance Project performance, May 3
- TREE representative speaks to the MU Council Against Violence Against Women, May 5, noon, Library Conference Room 159, University of Missouri
TREE representatives have additionally met with several church groups to talk about their event planning. Events are intended to grow from the February workshop and TREE resources, which include a lending library housed at The Communications Center, 1905 Cherry Hill Dr., Columbia. Participating churches and TREE representatives will meet again in June to share and brainstorm.
A Web site about TREE including links to resources will be available soon. New groups continue to want to be involved with the program, TREE Project Coordinator Kendra Yoder said.
The Missouri Foundation for Health grant was part of MFH’s Health Interventions in Non-Traditional Settings funding program, which provides two-year grants to faith-based and small secular organizations that address health needs in their communities.
Groups interested in building a TREE team for next year should contact Kim Ryan at (573) 489-2729 or kkgryan@juno.com or Kendra Yoder at klyd29@mizzou.edu.
Additional information:
are featured in the May 2009 Missouri School of Journalism Graduate Studies Newsletter. These include speaking engagements by Dr. Debra Mason, CORP director; large turnouts at recent CORP-sponosred events; and information about the new “Religious Literacy for the Public and Professions” class to be taught online this summer.
May 1, 2009 – Dr. Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology at MU and head of CORP’s Spirituality and Health research team, spoke April 27, 2009, on “Spirituality and Health” at the Columbia Regional Hospital Bioethics Grand Rounds in Columbia. He also is scheduled to be interviewed in June 2009 by Emmy-nominated “The Office” actor Rainn Wilson for a segment on Wilson’s Web site, 
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KBIA interviews CORP director about hate group
May 14, 2009 – National Public Radio affiliate KBIA interviewed Debra L. Mason, director of the Center on Religion & the Professions, on May 14 for a story about Westboro Baptist Church, which planned a protest in Columbia. In the wide-ranging interview, Mason addressed questions about whether the media should cover the group – known for its position against homosexuality and protesting at soldiers’ funerals – how they are related to other Baptists and whether they could be classified as a cult.
In addition to directing the Center, Mason is executive director of the Religion Newswriters Association and is a professor of journalism studies at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She is a nationally recognized, award-winning and widely published specialist in religion journalism and has more than 25 years of professional reporting, research and teaching experience.
The Center on Religion & the Professions (CORP) aims to improve religious literacy among professionals, to help them serve a diverse public. It performs research and creates curriculum, resources and public programming to accomplish that goal. For more information about the Center, call (573) 882-9257.