About Us
For 35 years, FUTURES has been providing groundbreaking programs, policies and campaigns that empower individuals and organizations working to end gender-based violence around the world. Striving to reach new audiences and transform social norms, FUTURES trains professionals such as employers, doctors, nurses, judges and athletic coaches on improving responses to violence and abuse. FUTURES also works with advocates, policymakers and others to build sustainable community leadership and educate people everywhere about the importance of respect and healthy relationships.
The Team
FUTURES’ Workplace and Economic Justice Team believes that every individual has a meaningful pathway to prosperity through education and employment opportunities that center safety and well-being, support healing, and promote economic security so they can thrive and live free from violence.
The Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital envisions a world where all youth are healthy, safe, and thriving. As a nationally recognized research center, UPMC Children’s Hospital’s Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine participates in the latest clinical studies, which involve human volunteers and are intended to add to our medical understanding.
The Allstate Foundation empowers people and communities so they can thrive. Since 2005, The Allstate Foundation has invested nearly $90 million to disrupt the cycle and prevalence of relationship abuse. The Foundation empowers survivors with the tools to achieve financial independence and live a life free from abuse and educates young people on the elements of healthy relationships to help stop abuse before it starts.
TheCampaign
In 2021, in partnership with The Allstate Foundation and in collaboration with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, we launched a national survey to better understand the academic, work, and financial pressures teens experience in their dating relationships. This first-of-its-kind study assessed the prevalence of various forms of economic abuse among teens, determined the impact abusive behavior has on their education, employment, and finances, and identified opportunities to enhance existing prevention efforts.
This campaign is created by teens for teens and the people who regularly interact with teens.
The Teen Leaders
In late Spring 2023, we interviewed almost 50 teenagers from the Bay Area and Charlotte, NC. Through the interview process, we selected 20 fellows between the ages of 16-19. The fellows in both cohorts bring a variety of lived experiences and levels of knowledge of teen dating violence. They participated in a weeklong orientation training at the end of Summer 2023 to build relationships and gain knowledge of teen dating violence and economic abuse, building strategic communications plans, and identifying and crafting targeted messages for their audiences. To honor the privacy of our teen fellows, we will not provide individual bios for each of the fellows.
Bay Area
Our Bay Area cohort consists of 10 members recruited from across the nine counties that comprise the Bay Area. Of these fellows, we have teens passionate about comprehensive sex education, forensics, gun violence prevention, LGBTQIA+ rights, mental health awareness, music, reaching policymakers through action, theatre, and visual arts.
Charlotte
Charlotte, NC fellows are spread throughout the state (with one college student in Florida), but grew up in and call Charlotte home. In this group of fellows, we have fellows passionate about athletics (basketball, football, track), disability justice, educating their peers, fantasy novels, film-making, finance, graphic design, LGBTQIA+ rights, language justice, medical racism, mental health awareness, poetry writing, restorative justice, roller skating, and sleeping.