Edward E. Ford Foundation Matching Grant for Consent and Healthy Relationship Education

With the generous support of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, Friends’ Central School will expand the scope of education around consent and healthy relationships beyond its traditional sphere in health education to a more comprehensive goal of building communities of consent within schools. This enhanced focus on consent education addresses a significant and ongoing gap in the US education landscape. Our schools are failing to help young people develop healthy, consent-based relationships whether online or in real time, whether social or intimate. Consent education is not only an essential step in helping young people avoid situations of sexual harassment, assault, and violence, but also can be used to strengthen a community’s commitment to equity and justice by listening to and uplifting unheard and undervalued voices in a school community. We believe practices and pedagogy rooted in consent will enhance students’ personal and communal lives. The Edward E. Ford Educational Leadership grant will allow Friends’ Central School to host a bi-annual conference on consent and healthy relationships for students from the surrounding area, and a bi-annual Summer Institute for faculty and staff from all over the US. Further, utilizing the successful Core Team model, Friends’ Central students will create an ongoing partnership with another area school to help them establish their own Consent Core Team and implement consent based practices in their own school community.