Celebrating National Be Kind to Humankind Week
Established in 1988, National Be Kind to Humankind Week is observed in the last week of August to encourage and celebrate kindness among people.
Established in 1988, National Be Kind to Humankind Week is observed in the last week of August to encourage and celebrate kindness among people. According to founder Lorraine Jara, “People need people; it’s as simple as that. In order to have the power to make the world a better place, we must first change our attitudes for the better.”
This year, Be Kind to Humankind Week is celebrated from Monday, August 25 through Sunday, August 31. Each day has a specific theme designed to help people focus their efforts on behalf of others:
Motorist Consideration Monday
Touch a Heart Tuesday
Willing to Lend a Hand Wednesday
Thoughtful Thursday
Forgive Your Foe Friday
Speak Nice Words Saturday
Sacrifice Our Wants for Others’ Needs Sunday
You can learn more about each day and find suggestions for how to spread a little kindness in and around your community here. Want to spread the word? Use #BeKindToHumankind or #BK2HK on social media.
Welcome Our New Office Manager Angel Falzone
Project SAGE is proud to welcome Angel Falzone as our new Office Manager.
Project SAGE is proud to welcome Angel Falzone as our new Office Manager. A lifelong resident of Litchfield County, Angel was raised in East Canaan and now calls Norfolk home. With a professional background in healthcare and business administration, Angel brings a wealth of organizational expertise and a strong sense of compassion to her new role. She will complete her Master’s in Business Administration from Grand Canyon University this December.
Angel is deeply committed to serving her community—especially the one that shaped her. She is passionate about supporting efforts that create lasting social change and believes in the importance of building safe, respectful, and empowering environments for all.
As Office Manager, Angel looks forward to helping strengthen the systems that support survivors and the agency’s day-to-day operations. She’s eager to collaborate with staff, partners, and community members to help advance Project SAGE’s vision of a world free from relationship violence.
Angel lives with her husband and son, who she describes as her greatest joy and motivation. Please join us in warmly welcoming Angel to the Project SAGE team!
Project SAGE Celebrates Disability Pride Month
July is Disability Pride Month, a time to celebrate the incredible diversity, strength, and resilience of individuals with disabilities.
July is Disability Pride Month, a time to celebrate the incredible diversity, strength, and resilience of individuals with disabilities. It’s a month dedicated to recognizing the invaluable contributions of disabled individuals and advocating for a more inclusive and accessible world.
This month also commemorates the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in July 1990, a landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination and champions equal opportunities for people with disabilities. The ADA's spirit of inclusion is vital, especially as we acknowledge that individuals with disabilities can face unique vulnerabilities, including a higher risk of experiencing domestic violence than their non-disabled peers.
By upholding the principles of the ADA and embracing disability as a natural and celebrated part of human diversity, we build stronger, more equitable communities for all. This month, Project SAGE invites you to join us in working towards our vision of a world in which everyone can be themselves, have healthy relationships, and live free of interpersonal relationship violence. If you or someone you know would like to learn more about how you can get involved, email Linda at lindac@project-sage.org.
Purple Ribbon Award Winner
Youth Initiative of the Year
Project SAGE is thrilled to have been named Youth Initiative of the Year in the Purple Ribbon Awards presented by Alliance for Hope International.
Launched in 2021, The Purple Ribbon Awards are the most comprehensive awards program honoring the countless hopegivers of the domestic violence movement. The nationally competitive awards are presented to "hopegivers who are making a substantial positive impact on the lives of domestic violence survivors."
The Youth Initiative of the Year award honors the Project SAGE Prevention Education team and the work that we do in creating and delivering the Healthy Relationships curriculum to youth throughout the Northwest Corner.
Please join us in celebrating this win, not only for Project SAGE, but for all our partner schools. We are grateful to be able to do this work with and for them.
History-making Women: Women's History Month
March is Women’s History Month. Here are just some of the history-making women whose stories span the geographical, historical, and ethnic diversity of the United States.
Elizabeth Freeman was born a slave and later used the Massachusetts Constitution in a 1781 court case to gain her freedom. This was the first in a series of “freedom suits” that eventually led Massachusetts to outlaw slavery in the state.
In the 1850s, Lucy Stone was a strong advocate for the abolition of slavery, a significant organizer for the women's equality movement, and the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. When she got married in 1855, Lucy kept her last name, sparking a trend toward more equality within marriage.
Patsy Mink, the first Asian American woman elected to Congress, was the major author of Title IX, the landmark 1972 legislation that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and education programs.
Equally influential was Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías. She championed women’s health justice, including reproductive rights, and worked steadfastly to include the perspectives of minorities medical care.
Finally, Wilma Mankiller, whose Cherokee surname "Mankiller" (Asgaya-dihi) refers to a high Cherokee military rank, became the first woman elected chief of a major American Indian tribe in 1985. While she was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, she revitalized the Nation’s tribal government and worked tirelessly to improve education, healthcare, and housing.
Celebrating the contributions of these and other inspiring women not only honors the causes they advanced but also pays homage to Project SAGE’s very beginnings. Started as a volunteer-run organization by women who saw a social need and stepped up to address it, Project SAGE is now staffed by over a dozen employees serving all six towns of the Northwest Corner. Want to help us make a difference? Become a Project SAGE certified volunteer or summer intern.
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
According to the Children’s Safety Network, teen dating violence is a pattern of controlling behavior exhibited by one teenager towards another in a dating relationship. This controlling behavior can manifest as physical abuse, sexual abuse, and / or emotional abuse, including threatening, ridiculing, stalking, and / or using technology to harass or intimidate.
The CDC’s High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 2021 reports that:
more than 10% of high-school girls and nearly 7% of high-school boys in the United States experience physical dating violence;
more than 15% of high-school girls and 4% of high-school boys in the United States experience sexual dating violence.
This month, we strive to bring awareness to teen dating violence prevention in the Northwest Corner through multiple community awareness-raising campaigns. First, Project SAGE is distributing three handouts throughout Region 1 and at local private schools that support not only TDVAM but also our Year of Digital Safety:
#AskB4UPost sticker - to raise awareness about the need for consent around sharing images on social media
Non-consensual Image Sharing brochure - to provide simple and practical information on what to do if your image has been shared without your consent
Surf Safer webcam cover - to prevent others from capturing images through a webcam without the user’s consent
2025: The Year of Digital Safety
Project SAGE is proud to inaugurate 2025 as the Year of Digital Safety.
Project SAGE is proud to inaugurate 2025 as the Year of Digital Safety.
But why is a domestic violence prevention organization interested in promoting digital safety? Isn’t that a job for tech experts?
It’s true that tech experts have a lot to offer when it comes to digital safety – but so do we. Relationships are increasingly playing out in virtual spaces, from social media to text messages to AI-enhanced apps. So, unhealthy and predatory behaviors are moving into these virtual spaces as well. As an agency dedicated to fostering healthy interpersonal relationships, Project SAGE views raising awareness about digital safety and relationship health in virtual spaces as a vital part of its mission to end interpersonal relationship violence.
To that end, Project SAGE has planned an exciting year of programming to help get the word out about digital safety in all its forms – and especially how to cultivate positive, healthy relationships as a protective factor against digital abuse. Our first workshop is already open for registration through EdAdvance. Titled “Digital Safety for Youth: What Parents Should Talk About,” this interactive workshop provides adults with a foundation for talking with tweens and teens about digital safety, including online stranger danger, cyberbullying, artificial intelligence, and more. Click here for details and registration – and keep an eye out for flyers and announcements about more events coming soon!
Thinking about Our Community This Week
Dear Project SAGE Community,
For many of us, this week’s election was a highly anticipated one, with people experiencing significant stress about the outcomes either way at the local, state, and federal levels.
Stress can sometimes make us feel more escalated.
At Project SAGE, when a client is experiencing escalation in a relationship, our client-centered, trauma-informed approach is to safety plan.
Therefore, if you are currently feeling escalated, here are some things we can offer:
Identify safe people with whom to talk.
Identify strategies that are self soothing for you.
Stick to your schedule.
Be honest with yourself about when, where, and how you can engage in difficult interactions.
Remember that healthy communication is specific, curious, includes clear boundaries, and respects the reality that multiple perspectives can be true simultaneously.
As a community-focused organization dedicated to creating social change to end interpersonal relationship violence, we remain committed to advocating for and supporting victims and survivors, as well as challenging attitudes and beliefs around power, control, and gender norms.
A reminder that our 24/7 hotline is always available for support.