The Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) is marking this year’s White Ribbon Day (WRD) campaign, commemorated in March, by promoting a series of outreach and educational events in the community. The health and social services organization will bring the campaign’s message to various groups of men and boys in the community, challenging them to “reimagine manhood” and think about the importance of their role in ending violence against women and all gender-based violence.

On March 7, the MAPS Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault team will bring the White Ribbon Day Campaign to a group of male parishioners of the Saint Mary of Assumption Church, in Milford, and encourage them to take the campaign’s pledge: “From this day forward, I promise to be part of the solution in ending violence against women and all gender-based violence.”

The following day, MAPS staff in Dorchester will themselves take the White Ribbon Day pledge and engage with several local barbershops, where they will encourage men to get involved in the campaign.

“We encourage men in our communities to take the White Ribbon Day pledge and promise not to remain silent about violence against women and all gender-based violence”, said Dulce Ferreira, MA, Director of the MAPS Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program. “It is very important to remember that all of us are responsible for ensuring the dignity, safety, and well-being of women and girls.”

On March 10, MAPS joins the 15th anniversary of the Massachusetts White Ribbon Day Campaign founded by Jane Doe Inc, the statewide coalition of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. The celebration will be held online on social media between 5:30 and 7 pm, and more information can be found at janedoe.org/whiteribbonday.

On March 15, MAPS advocates will take part in a conversation about the campaign on social media with Conselho de Cidadãos de Boston (CCB), an organization advocating for Brazilian immigrants in Boston.

On March 19, MAPS heads to the Sagrada Família Church, in Lowell, to engage with a group of men in a discussion about the campaign and encourage them to take the pledge, and on March 22, will present the campaign to participants of the MAPS Intimate Partner Abuse Education Program (IPAEP) in Somerville, and invite them to take the pledge.

On March 27, MAPS will invite a group of men to watch and discuss a 2010 TED Talk by Tony Porter, an author, educator, and activist working to advance gender and racial justice, at the Deus e Amor Church, in Roxbury.

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

The White Ribbon Day Campaign is an international human rights campaign 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.

MAPS has served the Portuguese-speaking communities of Massachusetts and others since 1970. The organization offers a wide range of 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.