Teen Dating Violence Forum To Be Held Wednesday

by Gabe BullardA town hall forum on teen dating violence will be held this week at Fairdale High School.The forum is sponsored by the Louisville Metro Coalition to Prevent Teen Dating Violence, which is made up of representatives from several organizations and Metro Councilwoman Vicki Aubrey-Welch.Emily Sandlin with the Center for Women and Families says the event marks the beginning of the coalition's effort to gauge the prevalence of, then address abuse in teenagers' relationships."I believe that statistic is from the Department of Justice, but one in five teens report that there is physical abuse in their dating relationship," she says.Sandlin adds that there are not local statistics on teen dating violence."Louisville is going to look different and we want to see exactly what that scope and context is for Louisville and that's part of why we're doing this town hall forum is to establish that," she says.The town hall will be held Wednesday from 6 to 8 pm. Sandlin says another forum will be held later to discuss the issue with parents and other adults.