Bystander Intervention to Prevent and De-escalate Hate-Based Violence Against LGBTQ+ Community Members in Texas

Project Abstract: Bystander Intervention to Prevent and De-escalate Hate-Based Violence Against LGBTQ+ Community Members in Texas

Right To Be (formerly Hollaback!) will work with the Houston Coalition Against Hate to develop and scale bystander intervention trainings to prevent/de-escalate hate crimes/hate incidents against the LGBTQ+ community in Texas.

Over the course of 36 months, Right To Be will develop a bystander intervention curriculum, deliver bystander intervention trainings to address anti-LGBTQ+ violence, scale trainings by equipping LGBTQ+ organizations to deliver the curriculum, and evaluate the impact on reporting, confidence in de-escalation skills, and rate of intervention. The work is segmented into three sections:

Year One: Curriculum development and bystander intervention training series launch
Year Two: Train the trainer
Year Three: Scaling and evaluation

With the support of the BJA - Right To Be will train 7,000 people in Texas, with a priority on in-person trainings and working group development in Houston. That includes 4,500 people directly trained in bystander intervention, 10-12 LGBTQ+ organization leads trained to deliver curriculum, and 2,500 additional community members trained through the train the trainer program. In addition to direct training participants, Right To Be will distribute bystander intervention materials and reporting information from the training series to over 10,000 people in Texas.

Subrecipient Houston Coalition Against Hate- designated as a culturally specific organization - will support curriculum development and Train the Trainer sessions in-person in Houston and digitally through Texas. Beneficiaries include members of the LGBTQ+ community, and an intentional focus on allies - people who have LGBTQ+ family members, colleagues, neighbors, friends, and students - who are seeking skills in identifying and safely deescalating hate incidents.

As a result of the training series, over 95% of participants will report an increased awareness of hate incidents, and over 95% will report being able to safely intervene using Right To Be's tested bystander intervention methodology, In a six month follow up study, over 65% of recipients will report using bystander intervention in their daily lives - preventing the escalation of violence and directly supporting LGBTQ+ communities members at a time of increased hate.