 |
| Part of a series on |
| Violence against women |
|---|
| Murder |
| Sexual assault and rape |
| Disfigurement |
| Other issues |
|
| International legal framework |
| Related topics |
The Jennifer Ann Crecente Memorial Group, Inc., commonly known as "Jennifer Ann's Group", is a Code Section 501(c)(3) public charity based in Atlanta, Georgia, whose aims are to educate young people about the prevalence of teen dating violence, how to identify these relationships, and how to extricate themselves safely from such relationships.
The Jennifer Ann Crecente Memorial Group, Inc. received its corporate charter in the U.S. state of Georgia on June 23, 2006, [1] and its 501(c)(3) status from the IRS on September 26, 2006. [2] The stated goals of the organization are "[t]o keep Jennifer Crecente's memory alive through good works and by fighting Teen Dating Violence." [3] The organization's trade name is Jennifer Ann's Group and is named in memory of Jennifer Ann Crecente. The group was founded by Crecente's father after the murder of the 18-year-old high school honors student by her ex-boyfriend.
The charity focuses on preventing teen dating violence through awareness, education, and advocacy. Although the group has several programs, the program for which it is best known is Gaming Against Violence, a program which produces and publishes video games designed to prevent teen dating violence.
Since 2008 the organization has sponsored an annual game design competition, the Life.Love. Game Design Challenge, asking game developers "Can you create a video game about teen dating violence ... without using violence in the game itself?" [4] [5]
The winning video games are published and promoted to encourage students, parents, and teachers to learn about how to recognize and avoid abusive dating relationships. The winning video games represent a wide range of countries, with winning games coming from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Mexico, Sweden, Thailand, and the U.S. [6]
Jennifer Ann's Group's efforts to use video games to prevent teen dating violence has been presented to many groups including Games for Health conferences in Boston and Amsterdam, mHealth conferences, Game Developers Conference (GDC), SIEGE, and to the CDC.
The Games for Health Journal printed a Program Profile about the program: "Gaming Against Violence: A Grassroots Approach to Teen Dating Violence" in 2014. [6]
Recognized as a Top 10 Trailblazer by Break the Cycle for "innovative use of video games" to stop teen dating violence. [7] Its video game 'Rispek Danis' was recognized as a Finalist for Most Significant Impact by the 2019 Games for Change Awards. [8] Two video games produced by Jennifer Ann's Group and published in 2021, 'Culture Overlord' and 'Sea of Roses', were each finalists for the 2021 James Paul Gee Learning Games Award. [9]
Rispek Danis (the Respect Dance), a "culturally appropriate and enjoyable game about consent created for youth in Vanuatu" is a finalist for 'Most Significant Impact' at the 2019 Games for Change Awards. [10] The game is in Bislama and the game's dialogue, settings, characters, and music reflect ni-Vanuatu life. Rispek Danis is available to play online [11] or for Android devices from Google Play. [12] An English-language version is only available to play online. [13] Rispek Danis was developed through a collaboration between World Vision Vanuatu and Jennifer Ann's Group to "teach young people about the meaning and importance of consent" as part of the "It Takes a World Campaign" from World Vision International. [13]
ADRIFT, a serious game about consent developed by Quinn Crossley and Andrew Connell for Jennifer Ann's Group is part of the 2019 "Hedonism" exhibition at MOD. at the University of South Australia which features a life-size video game called F.A.B.L.E. (the Federated Association of Believers, Leaders, and Explorers) that is based on ADRIFT. [14] [15]
More of the winning video games from the organization's annual design competition are published online and/or for download to smartphones and tablets. A selection of the video games include: Grace's Diary, a game about dating violence and bystander awareness from 2010 developed by GPTouch; [16] Love in the Dumpster, a game about teen dating violence and its impact on all genders from 2013 developed by AnotherKind; [17] The Guardian, a game about abusive relationships and its impact on different age groups and genders from 2014 developed by 99UNO; [18] Another Chance, a "cute, sprite-based game" with "interesting mechanics and, yes, got a bit preachy" that "for a brief, razor-sharp moment I was confronted with a real issue in the world today: Teen Dating Violence" from 2015 developed by AnotherKind; [19] HONEYMOON, a game about healthy relationships from 2016 developed by SNDR; [20] Stuck in a Dark Place, a serious game about consent that "addresses many consent scenarios including sexual assault and rape" from 2017 developed by AnotherKind; [21] Citizen Witch, a game about bystander intervention from 2018 developed by Lucas Vially; [22] and Step Up, a game about bystander intervention from 2018 developed by Jc Games. [22]
The games are available through various app stores including App Store (iOS), [23] Google Play, [24] Amazon App Store, [25] Blackberry World, [26] and Amazon Alexa skills marketplace. [27] The organization's game portal JAGga.me [28] features a rotating selection of the video games as does its page on itch.io. [22] All games for online play and for download are free.
The Gaming Against Violence program and Jennifer Ann's Group's use of video games has been covered by a range of gaming and mainstream media outlets including Wired, [16] Huffington Post , [17] Kotaku , [29] Fast Co.Exist, [30] Polygon, [31] Gamasutra , [32] GamePolitics.com, [33] and NPR. [34]
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help){{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)