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A quick google search of sexual violence and the food and beverage industry generates pages of articles, news reports, and research studies. The scope of the problem can be overwhelming at times.
On the other hand, ask members of the SAFE Bar Network if a safe night out is possible and the short answer is yes, absolutely. The longer answer is, yes and it will take a commitment from owners, managers, and employees to create a workplace focused on using active bystander skills to increase safety.
The SAFE Bar Network exists because employees at bars and other alcohol-serving venues often see people who are uncomfortable or unsafe and they don’t have the skills or the support needed to interrupt the problem to increase comfort and safety.
We’re solving this problem by engaging bars and other alcohol-serving venues in training conversations that are simple, manageable, and most importantly effective – but you don’t have to take our word for it. Check out Jesse’s real-life, Everyday Active Bystander Story.
How do we give a safe night out?
TRUST. We start by building trust with our partner bars and alcohol-serving venues. When we ask owners, managers, and employees to take a hard look at the issues they are seeing in their venue and to explore solutions, we are asking them to be open, and honest– that takes trust.
RESPECT. We believe that the staff at the venues we partner with are the experts on how to improve safety at their venue. They are already recognizing issues and the SAFE Bar Network’s role is to help them explore solutions to these issues and keep the conversation about bystander intervention going.
ACCOUNTABILITY. We are asking our bar partners to take responsibility for the times they have seen someone uncomfortable or unsafe in the past so that they can prevent it in the future. To help with this, we model accountability so that everyone can be part of the conversation and invest in the change.
CONNECTION. Continuing to use active bystander skills is so much more about what happens in the aftermath. So, we help teams build connections with and between people to be sure that employees feel supported when they interrupt concerning behavior and offer help.
SUPPORT. Beyond the individual training sessions, we offer our partner bars and alcohol-serving venues support so that they can continue building a workplace culture focused on using active bystander skills to give everyone a safe night out.
To learn more about joining the SAFE Bar Network contact us at info@safebarnetwork.org
The SAFE Bar Network is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) you can join the team by donating your time, talent, and money to the mission of giving everyone a SAFE Night Out, just click here.
There are everyday active bystanders practicing the skills to keep people safe every day. Watch their stories here, Everyday Active Bystanders.
To learn more about active bystander skills check out our blog post, Obstacles. What obstacles? 3 Full Proof Everyday Active Bystander Skills.
Interested in learning more about bystander intervention? Visit our friends at With Us Center for Bystander Intervention.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual harassment our partners can help. Visit MOCSA.org and RAINN.org
To learn more about the field of violence response and prevention visit PreventConnect.org and NSVRC.org