Champions for Change is an innovative new program to address sexual violence on campus with varsity athletes. We believe that athletes aren’t part of the problem, they’re a critical part of the solution.
This is not a typical sexual violence prevention program. This facilitated workshop flips the script and asks athletes, “What do you need to know about sexual violence, and how will you share that information?” The program pulls from design-based thinking methods, expertise from lived experience, and inspires athletes to truly be the co-creators of consent culture in their roles as leaders on campus.
This program is for varsity athletes, coaches, and leaders in the athletics space who want to opportunity to work with, and be mentored by JR LaRose, CFL champion, and Bailey Reid, gender-based violence prevention specialist, in an intensive twelve-hour training program about changing the conversation around sexual violence on campus. This unique approach ensures participants can:
To learn more about the program and see it in action, please visit our Youtube video.
We’re looking for real champions: Dynamic leaders on campus who are committed to a school where everyone is safe. Are you ready to stand up and step in? This training is about being next-level; not just on your team, but in your community.
In our 2019 pilot program at Carleton University, we received the following feedback from our participants:
JR LaRose is a 2011 Grey Cup champion. A proud member of One Arrow First Nation, he is an ambassador for Indigenous peoples. He is an accomplished speaker, facilitating over 400 presentations throughout Canada and the United States since 2008. A proud family man, JR’s path to success has been a long and hard-fought journey. Growing up in low-income housing in Edmonton’s inner city didn’t exactly set JR up for success but it did give him the drive to succeed. JR grew up without a father. His father, of Nigerian heritage, was deported back to his native country before JR was born. JR never met his Dad. To learn more about JR, watch the short documentary on his life.
Bailey Reid has worked for over fifteen years to empower young women to be the best they can be. With a firm understanding of how the power of words can influence social change, she previously worked as a Digital Strategist at MediaStyle, the Coordinator for the Sexual Assault Network of Ottawa, and as a Women’s Rights Campaigner for Oxfam Canada. Bailey is a member of the Public Engagement Committee of the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, an organization working to bring an end to gender-based violence in Ottawa.
