Interview with Deborah Weaver
"What are you going to do for the girls?"
A college student challenged Debrah Weaver 25 years ago. Answering that question has been the work of Girls' LEAP ever since.
In the late 90s, girls and young women in Boston and Cambridge were coping with increasing sexual assaults. As a worried mom, Deborah with a group of women, decided to take action. We talked with Deborah about the early days that shaped the next 25 years and why the program matters as much today as it did back then.
It's not a small thing to start an organization. What drove you to do that?
I was living in a neighborhood in Cambridge that had two home invasions in a short period of time. The women's community was up in arms because we felt the police should’ve notified us of the risks, of the high rate of sexual assaults and sexual violence. I had started teaching self-defense at several colleges and in every session, I heard a story from a student who had experienced sexual assault. One of my students turned to me one day and asked, “What are you going to do for the girls?” There was all this sadness because of the trauma. I wanted to be part of the solution.
Where did you start?
After the home invasions, we interviewed local police departments to learn what prevention services they had for girls – the answer was, none. So we researched other kinds of programs that drive change to figure out what worked... programs in AIDS prevention and self-defense classes for adult women...and found common threads. For example, The most effective AIDS prevention programming was led by peers. Self-defense classes were more effective when taught by women.
We cobbled together the characteristics of a perfect program and then went looking for it -- and couldn't find one. We stayed in touch with the Boston & Cambridge Police Departments. They finally said, “Why don’t you create a program?” So, we did. We did a pilot program with mothers and daughters, and it was a big success.
What were the first few years like?
The Cambridge Police Department provided us with one of the biggest violence prevention grants ever allocated. With support from the city of Boston, as well, we knew had a platform. We soon realized that although this was truly a group effort, for the organization to advance further, we needed a leader, and we needed to incorporate as a non-profit and apply for grant funding. I become the Executive Director.
Wellesley College was a big part of what made LEAP possible, with their commitment to community service. They provided me with a small salary so I could focus on innovating and developing the curriculum. They provided vans & student stipends. They functioned as an incubator, helping us make it through those first 5 years of testing the curriculum, getting it evaluated, developing college partnerships, and developing community partnerships.
What was going on in Boston at the time?
There was a lot of interest in boys and gangs and gun violence. It was a period of time called the Boston Miracle. There was a lot of work, particularly in the religious communities in Boston, on tackling the issue of violence among boys. We were the one organization that was saying, “What about the girls?”
At the time, the data showed that boys and incarceration were going down, but girls and incarceration were going up. We connected with Deborah Protherow-Stith, a doctor at Boston Medical, and David Hemenway, a researcher at Harvard, who were especially helpful. They joined us to say yes, there are really different experiences that girls and boys have. And, as Dr. Protherow-Stith said, “The girls are learning their violence skills from boys.”
We did a lot of work to build trust and connection in communities that weren’t necessarily working on this issue, to create community partnerships, and bring the program to where the girls were.
There are lots of self-defense programs and empowerment programs, but LEAP is unique in blending the two. Tell us how you arrived at this combination.
Self-defense is physical, emotional, and mental. As one of the girls said to me, “It’s not enough to find your voice, you have to have the courage to use it.” She made a profound impact on me.
When you find yourself in a threatening situation, it’s often very hard to speak up and stand up for yourself and your friends. These life skills can be taught and practiced, but they don’t come easy. We really needed to identify them as characteristics that are important and valuable not only for physical safety but for emotional safety and for the right to be safe.
We built them into everything we did.
Why does Girls’ LEAP still matter today?
There still isn’t equity in the world for girls and women. We still get paid less. We still suffer a lot of sexual violence. Women still have a lot of self-esteem issues.
Girls' LEAP provides a community where girls grow not only internally stronger, but they get a better sense of strength amongst themselves and in the girls’ community, with a sense of sisterhood that buoys them up and keeps them connected to themselves and gives them a sense that they can help each other advance their growth and their development of their own courage.
You don’t make it in the world by yourself. You make it in the world with people teaching and mentoring and guiding you. It’s important to create a safe space for girls to get a sense of belief in themselves and belief in their community and the power in their future. Today more than ever, these things need to be valued and strengthened.
Anything else you’d like to say? I’d like to say thank you to the people who came after me. Had LEAP not been taken up by the next generation, we could have seen an organization that had a real impact suddenly disappear. I’m grateful LEAP survives and thrives because future generations will benefit as the ones before have. I’m very, very happy that the program is growing and evolving with the times.
Deborah Weaver is currently the Executive Director of the Westport River Watershed Alliance. She co-founded and led Girls’ LEAP for its first 15 years. You can meet her at our Gala on May 18!