Mission

The Sunflower Project educates young people on sexual violence and relationship abuse and empowers survivors to tell their story through artmaking.

Our Vision

The Sunflower Project envisions a world where all survivors are deeply supported in reclaiming their voice. By using storytelling, embodied movement, and a wide range of creative outlets, our work encourages emotional processing, fosters healing, and builds community. We aim to educate all young people about healthy relationships early in life, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, background, location, or socio-economic status.

With the intention to spark empowerment, transformation, and prevention, the Sunflower Project embraces and upholds the following core values: 

  • Empathy — By actively listening and creating safe, radically inclusive and compassionate spaces.

  • Belonging — By fostering an environment that allows and inspires everyone to fully express their authentic selves.

  • Courage — By encouraging individuals to take bold, healing steps to fearlessly pursue their passions and release their past trauma.

  • Embodiment — By recognizing the power of fully inhabiting and connecting with our physical and sensory experiences as a means to cultivate self-awareness, expression, and a profound sense of presence.

  • Commitment to process — By embracing the inherent messiness of a creative journey, playfully pushing boundaries and expanding one’s comfort zone.

Cultural Equity Statement

Teen on teen relational abuse is extremely hard to track, and sexual, physical, and emotional violence harms young people of all racial, geographic, economic, and social backgrounds. Young people of all gender identities, expressions, and sexual orientations are impacted. 

According to the CDC, 8% of high school students in America have been physically forced to have sexual intercourse against their will, which is approximately 3,360,000 teenagers. Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health reports, “If you think about every 10 teen girls that you know, at least one and possibly more have been raped.” Nearly one in four women is a victim of rape or attempted rape. Tragically, the experience of sexual violence often begins at an early age — over 80% of female victims of rape or attempted rape report a first occurrence before age 25, and nearly half before they turned 18. This is why we believe in focussing our programming on educating and empowering young people.

These numbers are staggering, and they do not include those teens who are too scared to report their abuse or ask for help. The Sunflower Project is committed to the essential education, empowerment, and healing that needs to occur in communities of all kinds to ensure a healthier future for all.