Verizon and USA Network Team to Shine a Light on Dating Abuse on College Campuses
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According to loveisrespect.org, girls and young women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence.
To help bring attention to this issue, Verizon has joined forces with USA Network for the “Characters Unite College Tour.” The tour encourages students to use technology and their voices to help solve some of the country’s biggest social issues, including ending dating abuse, discrimination and hate.
Now through Sept. 26, all college and university students can enter the competition online. The school with the highest number of entries will receive a guaranteed stop on the fall tour, which features a star from a USA Network series. At each stop of the Characters Unite College Tour, students will be invited to create a free “I Won’t Stand For…” t-shirt, personalizing it by stamping a word to fill in the blank, such as dating abuse, bullying, racism, religious intolerance, sexism, homophobia, ableism and more.
In addition, they can take a photo to be a part of the Characters Unite online gallery and immediately share the image with their friends and family via social media, joining millions of people – including top musicians, movie and television stars, athletes and political leaders – in the Characters Unite campaign to combat all forms of violence and discrimination.
Students will also be able to join Verizon in speaking out against dating violence through the company’s HopeLine program. The activation will include HopeLine collection bins where participants can donate no-longer-used wireless phones and accessories in any condition, from any service provider. Attendees can also send messages of hope to dating violence victims and survivors using the hashtag #VoicesHavePower. For every message of hope sent, HopeLine from Verizon will donate $3 to domestic violence prevention.