lexandria, VA (Feb. 18, 2021): Alteristic, Inc. has received a $350,000 grant from The Allstate Foundation to improve its Green Dot Relationship Violence Prevention Program, providing much needed education to young people and communities across the United States. The Green Dot Program has been shown to significantly reduce relationship violence among high school students. Program improvements will increase scalability of the Green Dot Program and significantly broaden its reach and impact. Alteristic will create a permanent position, The Allstate Foundation Resident for Equity in Prevention, to ensure equity and inclusion guide all program improvements.

Green Dot is designed to promote culture change, creating the norms that relationship violence is not acceptable and everyone is expected to do their part to keep others safe. Green Dot empowers all members of a given community to be a part of the solution by equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and motivation they need to address concerning situations and use their influence to set healthy norms among their peers.

“We stand on the forefront of an extraordinary and highly-promising time in our field – a time of building and strengthening prevention efforts, informed by a growing body of research to guide our efforts” says Dr. Dorothy J. Edwards, founder and president of Alteristic, Inc. “While providing support and resources to those who are experiencing violence remains an urgent and vital part of any comprehensive approach, everyone would agree, that stopping the violence in the first place is the ideal we are all striving toward. The Allstate Foundation has long been a remarkable and ardent supporter of domestic and partner violence response programs. We are so grateful for their support in expanding the reach and impact of prevention efforts.”

Alteristic was established in 2010 with an initial goal of training colleges in effective strategies to reduce relationship violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The program has subsequently been adapted for K-12 schools, federal agencies, workplaces, military, and communities both domestically and abroad, and has expanded to address workplace harassment based on power-imbalances and identity.

“This support couldn’t have come at a better time,” Dr. Edward continues, “There is strong evidence of historical marginalization of people of color in this work. Prevention programs disproportionately benefit some, while falling short for those often at greatest risk and with least institutional and societal support, due to racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. We are collectively called to address this disparity and are so grateful for the support of the Foundation in the creation of the Allstate Foundation Resident for Equity in Prevention at Alteristic.”

“Our nation’s diverse youth are already full of passion, resilience and determination, so we’re eager to get these critical tools into their hands,” said Francie Schnipke Richards, vice president of social responsibility and The Allstate Foundation. “By helping youth recognize and harness their collective power, we can help them advance equity and inclusion and accelerate positive change in our society.”

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The Allstate Foundation accelerates positive change by empowering and educating the most vulnerable, inspiring today’s visionaries and promoting community leadership. Since 2005, The Allstate Foundation has invested more than $70 million to help empower nearly 2 million domestic violence survivors with education and tools to achieve financial independence and build a life free from abuse.