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 Leave Out ViolencE (LOVE) was founded in 1993 in Montreal by Twinkle Rudberg, whose husband was murdered by a 14 year-old boy.
LOVE's programs are designed to help youth overcome the challenge of violence in their lives and develop the skills to become local leaders against violence. In LOVE, young people who have been victims, witnesses or perpetrators of violence attend a series of weekly training sessions held in Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal and Halifax. They learn to use their personal experiences with gangs, drugs, weapons, racism, bullying, domestic violence and self-harm to help other youth make positive choices and together build safer communities. Over the past 11 years, LOVE has grown from a single office in Quebec to a bilingual nation wide organization. It's now the leading Canadian youth violence prevention non-profit organization.
LOVE was founded with a vision of what it takes to help a young person overcome adversity and become successful, and over the years, we have become an effective, results-oriented organization uniquely capable of making a difference in the lives of youth. At LOVE we believe that all young people can achieve positive change. We are relentlessly dedicated to young people, re-engaging them, teaching them to learn from past experiences, and to experientially create success for themselves, their peers and their communities. We believe that every young person can lead positive change in their own lives when offered support and opportunity.
Our mission is to reduce violence in the lives of youth (from 13 to 18 years old) and in our communities by building a team of youth who communicate a message of non-violence.
Leave Out ViolencE is a unique and long-term violence prevention program. Victims, witnesses and perpetrators undertake multimedia and leadership training to develop the positive life skills, sense of belonging and critical thinking that enable them to analyze causes and alternatives to violence.
As to achieve it, we propose a series of unique skill building, media-based, educational programs which motivate and equip youth to find a path of non-violence and then lead others toward it. One the most popular result is the regular exhibitions that we organize to show the creations of the youth…
LOVE proves that a constructive, non-punitive, preventive approach to the elimination of violence gives positive results. A young girl that participated in our project said: “Be the solution, not the problem”
Our goal is to raise awareness that one person's positive actions can begin a movement of social change.
For more questions about the LOVE program, or to inquire about joining the Riverdale chapter, contact Diego Bonato.
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