Hopi-Tewa Women's Coalition to End Abuse Rape Prevention and Education - Abstract The Hopi-Tewa Women’s Coalition to End Abuse (HTWCEA) is a Tribal Sexual Assault Coalition and will focus on increasing efforts of sexual violence prevention education in the communities and villages of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona. HTWCEA believes and affirms that the community is ready for changing the social norms of violence and that people have the capacity to prevent sexual violence victimization and perpetration. Building trusting relationships and safe environments is paramount across Hopi villages where often survivors and victims of violence are silenced by close-knit family relationships and community connections often are reluctant to upset the reciprocal balance that supports cultural practices. The HTWCEA will maintain the Project KYAPTSI (Knowledge for Youth & Adults to Preserve Traditional Values and Self-Identity) through a community prevention education framework. Kyaptsi is a Hopi concept describing having the utmost respect for yourself, others, the environment and the Hopi traditional lifeway and teachings. To have kyaptsi in the context of the coalition is to have the utmost respect for relationships and not engaging in domestic and sexual violence and that consent is a key factor in respect. Prevention education activities will include; panel/roundtable discussions, talking circles, focus group discussions, community listening sessions, webinars, health literature development and sharing, radio broadcasts, and other forums supportive of safe conversations on sexual violence. The current staff will develop the project and a part-time Community Outreach Worker will be hired to work directly with the twelve villages through collaborative efforts to provide prevention education activities. Through these collaborative efforts, HTWCEA will offer trauma-informed, cultural-based prevention education. We will create health literature and resource materials such as presentations, webinars, brochures, and other media reflecting the language, designs and depictions of cultural teachings and lifeways that uphold Hopi and Tewa traditional values of non-violence and respect of women and girls. HTWCEA also proposes to develop and host culturally relevant family wellness retreats that will address the priority area of sexual violence prevention using Hopi traditional values and culture. The service area where the proposed project will take place is the Hopi Indian Reservation, including the twelve independent Hopi and Tewa villages, and communities of Yuwehloopaki, Polacca, Owa-kitsoki. The Hopi and Tewa people will be directly impacted by the proposed Hopi-Tewa Project KYAPTSI project. Through this project, the coalition aims to increase the communities understanding of sexual violence and its impact on individuals, families, community and culture. The project also aims to provide prevention education in a culturally-specific format using the Hopi traditional values and concepts to decrease victimization and perpetration of sexual violence. Like many tribal communities, the topics domestic and sexual violence was a personal issue that shouldn’t be discussed outside the home, however, our goal is to change that and make it a social norm that prevention education is the key to decreasing rates of sexual violence and attitudes about not reporting violence. We intend to analyze our capacity to enhance our prevention education work through a public health approach while addressing the Indigenous Determinants of Health
