UCF is about to be covered in green dots.
The dots aren’t an illness or fancy new plants. Instead, the green dots represent individual acts of bystander intervention, when somebody recognized the signs of interpersonal violence and stepped in.
More green dots mean an aware community that’s empowered to intervene—and that’s UCF’s goal.
Green Dot UCF officially launches Thursday, Sept. 8, with a block party outside of the Student Union. Games, activities and speakers will go from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Green Dot’s nationally-utilized bystander intervention curriculum will be presented to students and faculty and staff members over the next 5 years at least thanks to a grant from Florida’s Department of Health.
Green Dot has been implemented at high school and college campuses across the country to create a culture change and reduce acts of violence.
Although a gut instinct that tells people to intervene when they see an act of violence may kick in, often people don’t know how to step in safely.
That’s where Green Dot comes in.
Green Dot relies on peer-to-peer training to educate about the three D’s on violence prevention: Direct for directly approaching the situation, Delegate for calling for help, and Distract by taking attention away from a potentially dangerous situation.
In its pilot year at UCF, Green Dot is focused on training student-leaders from Fraternity & Sorority Life, Student Government Association and LEAD Scholars to deliver the Green Dot message to other students. Additional peer influencers will receive Green Dot training over time.
To learn more about Green Dot, go to https://alteristic.org/. Click here to watch a video previewing Thursday’s launch.