During National Teen Dating Violence Awareness month in February, the Dubuque Community School District will to host 150 middle school students from across the district for “#LetsGetReal: A Summit on Healthy Teen Relationships” on February 11.

The summit is a continuation of work across the district, largely supported by a federal grant from the Office of Violence Against Women to prevent dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking among middle and high school students. This is part of a host of activities designed to bring awareness to the issues of teen relationships, including the Green Dot violence prevention initiative.

This summit is being co-hosted with district staff and the high school youth advisory board for the grant. The keynote speaker for the event will be Jasmine Uribe from Break the Cycle, the leading national nonprofit organization providing comprehensive dating-abuse programs exclusively to young people ages 12 to 24.

Students participating in the summit will have an opportunity to learn how to recognize healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviors, how to safely and respectfully end a relationship, and how to stay safe with technology. Participants will also have the opportunity to brainstorm with other middle school students about how to take the messages from the day back to their peers at school.