Pahala Elem 3rd grade students attend “Tita the Turtle” (focus on healthy relationships)
Ka’u Rural Health Community Association, Third grade students from Pahala Elementary School were invited to attend the premier of author Malie Ibarra’s “Tita the Turtle” story and activity book, at Pahala County Parks and Recreation gym. “Tita the Turtle” was created to emphasize healthy relationships, and to model successful behaviors among children in rural underserved communities.
In 2007, the Hawaii State Department of Health embarked on what would become a two year statewide Sexual Violence Primary Prevention Program (SVPP) planning effort. One of the assessments demonstrated that there was a need for general public awareness of sexual violence and a need to educate youth and young adults about healthy relationships.
One pf the main initiatives is to identify prevention goals and generate strategies that could be implemented to achieve outcomes, “to support healthy, respectful, non-violent relationships by increasing positive social norms and eliminating negative social norms that tolerate sexual violence”.
Kaʻū Rural Health Community Association, Inc. 