The Atlantic Coast Conference has joined in partnership with One Love Foundation in honor of Yeardley Reynolds Love in an effort to end relationship violence by educating, empowering and activating young people in a movement for social change.
The ACC is the first collegiate conference to join in alliance with the Foundation, which was created in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Love, a senior at the University of Virginia who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend just weeks prior to her college graduation. The Foundation is more popularly known as One Love, with “One” representing the jersey number worn by Yeardley Love throughout her high school and college lacrosse career.
“We are honored to partner with the One Love Foundation and its mission to end relationship violence,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “The ACC and our 15 member institutions are committed to finding safe and educational avenues to address important issues with our student-athletes. The One Love Foundation, created in memory of former University of Virginia student-athlete Yeardley Love, is a valuable organization, and we appreciate our partnership.”
One Love’s work focuses on developing creative and technology-based tools and resources that meet young people where they are and inspire them to action. The past year has seen the rollout of the Escalation film and workshop, which have made a tremendous impact at universities across America. Described by many participants as a potential “eye opening” and “deeply recognizable,” the workshop seeks to achieve the following goals:
- Raise awareness of relationship violence
- Educate students on the warning signs of an abusive relationship
- Educate students on how to intervene in their own relationship or that of a friend
- Create a safe place for students to discuss the issue of unhealthy relationships, their campus culture and beliefs regarding healthy relationships
“In the last nine months, we’ve seen that students across the country are incredibly eager to engage in the discussion that Escalation inspires, and we are thrilled to partner with the ACC to accelerate this work,” said Katie Hood, CEO of the One Love Foundation. “Partnerships like these are critical to how we turn our educational work into a true movement for change.”
The Escalation film and workshop received a positive reception on ACC campuses. One administrator labeled the presentation “hands down the best effort (on educating young people regarding relationship violence) we’ve had during my time here.” ‘’
“The One Love Escalation workshop opened our eyes to the many issues associated with relationship violence,” added Florida State junior Katherine Plessy, chairperson of the ACC’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. “All of us as student-athletes were definitely taken aback by the frequency of relationship violence, and this workshop moved each and every one of us in a way that will help us always remember what to do to prevent a situation from ever occurring.”
Schools seeking to bring the Escalation workshop and Team One Love to their campuses should contact Seanna Bruno, Managing Director of Partnerships, at 914-920-3144 or [email protected].
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About One Love Foundation: The One Love Foundation in honor of Yeardley Reynolds Love was created in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Love, a UVA senior who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend just weeks before graduation. After her death, Yeardley’s family and friends were surprised to learn the statistics – that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in this country will be in a violent relationship in his or her lifetime and that young women ages 16-24 are at 3x greater risk. Today, One Love’s ambitious goal is to end relationship violence by educating, empowering and activating young people in a movement for social change. To achieve this, One Love develops creative technology-based tools and resources that meet young people where they are and inspire them to action. For more information, please visitwww.joinonelove.org
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Chris Graham
