It's not OK releases new toolkit for community champions campaigns

The It's not OK Campaign has released a toolkit to support local communities who would like to develop a "champions" campaign.

Champions campaigns are fronted by everyday people from different groups within a community. The campaigns focus on changing how people think about and respond to family violence in their neighbourhoods, workplaces, sports clubs, faith communities and other parts of their communities. Champions campaigns seek to give visibility to family violence, get people talking about it, make it OK to ask for help, provide new avenues for getting help, and enable community ownership of family violence prevention. Currently, about 200 local champions support campaigns around the country promoting the messages of the It's not OK campaign.

The new Community Champions Toolkit is available on the It's not OK Campaign website. The It's not OK Campaign has also published a video of local champions talking about the rewards of being a champion, the challenges, and their stories of helping people in their networks. Short videos are also available of people telling their stories about their experiences of being champions or being helped by people in their community.

Contact the It’s not OK team if you would like support with a champion project in your community.

Further research and resources

Presentations and resources from the symposium Creating change: Mobilising communities to prevent family and whānau violence (August 2015)

NZFVC Issues Paper 8: Creating change: Mobilising New Zealand communities to prevent family violence (May 2015)