Project SURVIVE Persists in Promoting Healthy Relationships and Combating Abuse Despite Continuing Pandemic Challenges

By Ann Marie Galvan agalvan1@mail.ccsf.edu

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Project SURVIVE, a peer-education program of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, persists in providing training and employment to students by implementing a comprehensive sexual violence prevention initiative that involves presentations, events, courses, resource assistance, and on-campus job opportunities for students.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, continuity in the student leadership pipeline has been difficult to maintain and funding support for the program has continued to decline, said Adele Failes-Carpenter, Project SURVIVE coordinator.

“Since about 2018, there's been falling support and funding for student jobs on campus. And so that has been a challenge,” Failes-Carpenter said. “Not just for our program, but I think for many programs that are prioritizing student leadership on campus.”

Founded in 1993, Project SURVIVE aims to promote healthy relationships, empower individuals in intimate relationships, and cultivate student leadership skills to combat abuse in their communities, and in society at large. With a social justice focus, the program aims to educate and end sexual and domestic violence.

The program fights to keep student worker positions in the annual budget. “A big piece of the advocacy we've done over the last few years is to make sure that our college is reflecting the value of leadership and maintaining a safe and supportive campus,” said Failes-Carpenter.

Despite these challenges, Project SURVIVE has been able to stay up to date with the latest research and best practices in promoting healthy relationships, and in 2020 they released training on how people can communicate COVID risks with “loved ones, roommates, and potential partners.”

Project SURVIVE’s content is partly developed by students themselves during a retreat every spring, where they discuss potential changes to the curriculum. Employer advisory boards also advise the program's curriculum, ensuring that it remains relevant and effective.

"It's definitely been rewarding to be able to really give information on relationships across the spectrum, because we focus on healthy and unhealthy relationships,” said current peer educator Yubitza Bautista-Santana.

Bautista-Santana is a licensed clinical social worker with a background in mental health, and mostly presents for Project SURVIVE’s

Expect Respect program. Expect Respect presents healthy relationship workshops to San Francisco public high school students.

"It's still very surprising to see and get the students' feedback about the information that they don't know and what they've learned because of this program being in the schools," Bautista-Santana said.

Most high school students don’t know "the warning signs of an unhealthy relationship, or the cycle of abuse. The warning signs are new information. Even things about a healthy relationship where they're like, 'Okay, learn more about respect, about healthy arguments.' It's really good feedback to know that we're providing them with the information.”

The presentations also encourage students to put their knowledge to use. "It really prompts them to find ways to implement what they're learning in their everyday life with other people, and we need more of that," they said.

Ultimately, Project SURVIVE aims to empower individuals and communities to address issues of power and violence in relationships, creating a safer and more equitable society for all, and Bautista-Santana hopes that students can “use the information for self-reflection to create a new social movement, one of personal healing.” By personalizing information and working on self-healing, individuals can help undo the “emotional reactivity and force that is occuring in the different levels of society today,” they said.

“Today is a reflection of what has occurred over time from the past, but tomorrow is still unwritten, and at the end of the day, we all need each other to create the society that we are all deserving of and want to be a part of, one of mutual respect,” said Bautista-Santana.

Have your say How do your classes fit into your goals?

Kori (PhysiCal TherapY)

I'm going for my kinesiology bachelor’s, so it'll be a transfer. But I’ve only taken one actual kinesiology course; everything else is pre reqs because eventually, my goal is to get my doctorate in physical therapy.

I have a history in the military and I have a history of work-related injuries in the military. I didn't really know what I wanted when I went into the military, I was just kind of doing it to buy time and not be poor. But after doing like two physical therapy sessions, I was like “oh my God this is my new religion. I want to study this.” Before, I was getting my bachelor’s in Chinese Mandarin and from there, I could have applied for a different military program to get all of my medical prerequisites done and then gone into the military physical therapy program which is tied for number one in the country. I had a plan. We're on plan C right now.

It was really easy to enroll [at City College] during the pandemic. I had a lot of other things going on as well and I really wanted to get back into school, but I wasn't sure how it was going to go, so that was my part-time semester. And it was like “oK let me take a class, see how it goes” and all that stuff. And it was all online so I felt safe and it was nearby. It was nice and easy for me to be present. so nursing had always interested me but, for whatever reason, I decided not to do anything like that. And now I am. I’m on Free City and I wouldn't otherwise be able to make a career transition without this.

I am studying fashion design. I'm trying to use that goal to make my own designs. Since I like doing Cosplay, I want to make my own designs so I can make other people happy, maybe and so I can be happy with the designs I make. I’m taking three classes.

Right now, I'm currently studying math 80, art 125A, PE 200D. I'm doing pretty good in the class. Math 80 is kind of difficult for me. It’s for a requirement for a transfer to San Francisco state. I'll be studying art. I like to do ceramics because I like to build my own collections.

Interior design is my major. It's something that I've always been interested in. So my previous career was more on the graphics side but I've just always had an interest so I wanted to change direction.

I'm in the nursing program right now. This will be my fourth full year here. I had to do a lot of pre reqs for the nursing program because my first bachelor’s is in restaurant management and culinary arts. So through weird ways, we all need the credits to appear on our transcripts. I had to redo English for instance, I had to redo some classes in addition to science.

I decided [to go into nursing] because I like an atmosphere that's constantly changing. I like being on my feet. I like thinking quickly and having to make decisions and then evaluate those decisions and then change direction. So I like the atmosphere that the restaurant and hospitality had. I didn't like the fact that we aren't really paid for our hours, there's no medical benefits really, there's no retirement plan; there's none of that. And so nursing had always interested me but, for whatever reason, I decided not to do anything like that. And now I am. I’m on Free City and I wouldn't otherwise be able to make a career transition without this.