iRespect&Protect is a community campaign dedicated to supporting the lives of youth, families, and communities by fostering positive self-worth, promoting healthy online choices, and encouraging safe relationships.

WE BELIEVE EVERYONE IS:

  • Worthy of their hopes and dreams.
  • Looking for affirmation, sometimes in the wrong places.
  • Able to find love in themselves.
  • Able to find love separate from their devices.
  • Strong enough to encourage change in others.
  • Individual, unique, and worthy.

OUR SERVICES:

We provide tools to raise awareness of the effects of device use on our lives: low self-esteem, comparing ourselves to others, cyberbullying, increased anxiety and depression, sexting, self-harm, and teen suicide.

WHO WE SERVE:

Our offices are located in the Mid-Willamette Valley in Oregon but our online tools and resources are available to anyone.

We welcome the participation of all individuals and celebrate their unique gifts and talents including their race, color, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, abilities, and socioeconomic status.

OUR HISTORY:

These are the questions which led us to create iRespect&Protect.

How can we support parents to keep their children safe and informed in this digital world?

How can we facilitate safe discussions with youth about taking/sharing nude photos?

How can we encourage our community to come together to combat the struggles we are witnessing?

How can we prevent cyberbullying, shaming, and youth suicide?

Where the Idea Started

iRespect&Protect began during an annual meeting consisting of law enforcement, child welfare services, and Liberty House located in Salem, Oregon. In January, 2018 these agencies came together and expressed a unanimous goal: Reduce incidents of trauma to children due to risky online choices.

Who Came Together to Realize the Vision

Liberty House is the child abuse assessment center serving Marion and Polk counties in Oregon. Liberty House provides excellence in the assessment, treatment, and prevention of child abuse, neglect, trauma and grief in order to promote health and hope in children, youth, families and communities.

Beginning in June 2018 Liberty House facilitated focus groups throughout Marion and Polk counites to collaborate and create a community-wide strategic plan to address the concerns of trauma that youth were experiencing through digital abuse.

The first Key Leader Meeting was convened on December 10, 2018, consisting of business and community leaders, leadership in youth serving organizations, school district representatives, and other involved and interested community leaders. The discussion was well-received and provided the facilitators from Liberty House with the initial strategic plan for a community-based movement. The name iRespect&Protect was developed over the course of the following months by inviting youth voices into the discussion and direction of the campaign.

Throughout 2019, focus groups and meetings were held throughout the community with key leaders, students, youth leadership, city government representatives, health organization representatives, school district leadership, and law enforcement representatives. Opportunities to share ideas and provide feedback led to our 10 foundational principles, which are the core of our tool kits and assessment tools.

iRespect&Protect launched in February 2021.

10

Foundational
Principles

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    There is something incredibly special about being human!

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    We all need and desire to be liked and loved.

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    We do things every day to be liked or loved.

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    We may not always be aware of when those things we do – choices we make – could harm us or others.

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    There is an opportunity to increase awareness of how certain actions could hurt us or others.

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    Nobody should ever feel that they have to do anything to be liked or loved; love isn’t a transaction; the right people will like and love you just because you are you.

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    Each person has the power to choose; pressure to do things doesn’t mean we have to do them.

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    Each human has 100% worth just by virtue of the fact they are alive. We all have unique talents and traits to be cherished and celebrated, and we are all deserving of our hopes and dreams.

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    If you have engaged in doing something harmful to yourself or others, recognize that it is likely because you also wanted to be liked and loved, and there is support for you.

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    We can create a community movement to empower youth and adults to choose safe social media and device habits and honor the humanity in ourselves and others!

OUR MISSION:

Promoting You

Our mission is to support the lives of youth, families, and communities by fostering positive self-worth, promoting healthy online choices, and encouraging safe relationships.

The first step you can take in joining us is to:

COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP GROUP:

The iRespect&Protect Community Leadership Group meets quarterly to provide guidance, advice, and fiscal leadership. We invite anyone interested in joining this group of Key Leaders to contact us.

We greatly appreciate their commitment and leadership for iRespect&Protect.

Alison Kelley JD
Chief Executive Officer
Liberty House Center

Bob Evarts
Marion County Sheriff’s Office

Carlos Ruiz
Principal
West Salem High School

Chris Pineda
Director of Community Engagement
Mountain West Investment Corporation

Danielle Bethell
Vice Chair, Salem Keizer School Board
Marion County Commissioner

Debbie Joa
Prevention and Protection Coordinator, SKSD
Liberty House Board of Directors

Denyc Boles
Community Relations
Salem Hospital

Drew Moneke
Teacher
West Salem High School

Heather Holcomb
Executive Director
Acres of Hope Youth Ranch

Jesse Lippold Peone
Real Estate Broker
Blum Real Estate

Josh Graves, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Catholic Community Services

Lisa Harnisch
Executive Director
Marion & Polk Early Learning Hub, Inc

Sam Skillern
Executive Director
Salem Leadership Foundation

Satya Chandragiri MD
Salem Keizer School Board Director
Psychiatrist, Chandras Clinic

Shaney Starr MS
Executive Director 
CASA of Marion County, Inc.

Scott Vu
Mental Health Promotion & Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Marion County Health and Human Services

Stephanie Thorp
Children’s Ministry Director
Salem First Baptist Church

Vincenzo Meduri
Founding Artistic Director
Enlightened Theatrics

Yanira Hererra 
Senior Director of Teen Services
Boys and Girls Club, Marion and Polk Counties

STAFF:

Alison Kelley
Liberty House CEO

Kyle Tarr
Prevention Program Director
ktarr@libertyhousecenter.org
Or you can call 503.428.3876.

Max Gutfreund
Prevention Education Project Coordinator
mgutfreund@libertyhousecenter.org
Or you can call 503.510.0299.

Rubisela Plata
Coordinadora Bilingue del Departamento de Prevencion
rplata@libertyhousecenter.org
O puede llamar al 971.239.3712.

Adrienne Christian
Prevention Outreach Coordinator
achristian@libertyhousecenter.org
Or you can call 971.273.6242.