Youth Creating Allies for Relationship Education (YCARE) engages high school students to be leaders in their communities, to educate and raise awareness about dating violence, and to learn skills and strategies to build healthy identities, relationships, and communities. YCARE Leaders work with Between Friends staff to build a future without domestic violences for the communities we serve. Topics covered in YCARE include privilege and oppression, gender roles, building healthy relationships, the effects of trauma and sexual harassment, job-skills, financial education, reparative justice, youth facilitation, self-reflection, the importance of consent, advocacy skills, empowerment, and self-care. 

Annually, Y.C.A.R.E. leaders identify a project connected to the program’s goals and the needs of their peers. For example, during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month in February 2018, our Y.C.A.R.E. leaders created and led a campaign titled #AdultsListenUp about how adults can better support teens to be in safer relationships. This project was identified by Y.C.A.R.E. leaders as a critical need because the program was consistently not meeting the following outcome: 70% of young people will report that they would seek help if they were experiencing unhealthy or unsafe relationships. The survey reached 604 students between the ages of 11 and 18 across five schools and found that:  

• 36% of youth surveyed said they talk to their friends about their relationships while only 10% said they talked to their parent or caregiver.  
• 39% of youth surveyed believe that their parents/caregivers/guardians do not know very much or know nothing about their relationships with others, including but not limited to their friendships and romantic partners.  
• More than 50% of youth surveyed have had an adult not take them seriously in the past year, nearly one-third had an adult ignore their feelings or were yelled at by an adult when the youth approached them seeking support, and nearly one-fourth of youth surveyed were blamed by an adult when someone hurt them.  

This data was included in a Y.C.A.R.E. 2019 #AdultsListenUp Guide, which included recommendations from young people on how adults can be better allies in the movement to end dating violence. Guided by the results of our 2018 #AdultsListenUp survey, we have continued to host youth-led community conversations during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month that allow participants, youth and adults alike, to explore ways to impact help-seeking behaviors in young people and lay the groundwork for successful youth and adult partnerships.