The Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) is inviting men in the community to join this year’s White Ribbon Day campaign by learning more about the gender-based violence prevention movement and taking the campaign’s pledge. 

MAPS is marking this year’s campaign by bringing its message to groups of men and boys in the community, challenging them to “reimagine manhood” and think about their role in ending violence against women and all gender-based violence. Throughout the month, MAPS advocates will also invite them to take the White Ribbon Day (WRD) Pledge: “From this day forward, I promise to be part of the solution in ending violence against women and all gender-based violence.”

On Thursday, March 9, MAPS will take part in the city of Lowell’s WRD Proclamation event at 12 pm at the Lowell City Hall. The following day, MAPS will host an event at the Oliveira Barbershop in Everett (79 Main St.) from 5 to 7 pm to invite the staff and clients to learn about the campaign and take the pledge. On March 18, MAPS advocates head to Dorchester to engage with local men at Domenyck’s Unisex Hair Salon (423 Bowdoin St.) from 2 to 4 pm. On March 20, the team brings the campaign to BRACE (Brazilian American Center) in Framingham (560 Waverly St.) from 10 am to 12 pm.

“It is important to remember that the effort to prevent violence against women must involve men. It is not just a women’s issue. It affects everyone, which is why we invite the men in our communities to take this important pledge every year,” said MAPS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paulo Pinto, MPA. “We must keep challenging rigid and outdated stereotypes, reimagine masculinity, and encourage boys and men to express our emotions in a healthy and positive manner.”

Throughout the month, the MAPS Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault team will encourage men visiting its offices and those attending MAPS’ COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics to take the White Ribbon Day pledge. 

The White Ribbon Day (WRD) Campaign, commemorated every year in March, is an international human rights movement started in 1991 on the second anniversary of one man’s massacre of 14 women in Montreal to urge men to speak out against violence against women and all gender-based violence.

MAPS is a member of Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts coalition of organizations providing support to victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault who launched the Massachusetts White Ribbon Day campaign in 2007. For more information about Jane Doe Inc., please visit www.janedoe.org.

MAPS has served the Portuguese-speaking communities of Massachusetts and others since 1970. The organization offers free health and social services through its six offices in Cambridge, Somerville, Brighton, Dorchester, Framingham, and Lowell. To learn more about MAPS, visit maps-inc.org.