KCBS’ Margie Shafer Reports

Dating abuse can be emotional, verbal or physical. Eritrea was abused by the first person she dated as a freshman in high school.

"When he hit me physically that’s when I kind of noticed it," said Eritrea. "Then my cousin, whose my best friend spoke to me about it and said, ‘what are you doing, this guy’s not right, do you see what he’s doing?’"

After several break-ups and reunions, she managed to make a clean break, with family support.

Now, with $18 million in funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the first major national initiative has been launched to focus on the prevention of teen dating abuse in the United States.

"It’s absolutely critical. We have to give our young people the tools to understand what a healthy relationship is all about," said Esta Soler with the Family Violence Prevention Fund, which is based in San Francisco. The Fund has been selected as the national program office.

11 Communities across the country will implement initiatives targeting 11 to 14 year olds, including those in Oakland.

"We tend to want to just protect our babies," said Tatiana Cologne with Start Strong Oakland. "But I think an important thing is to be an ally and try to look at it from that perspective."

Start Strong will develop a curricula for four middle schools, use social marketing through Facebook and MySpace, and engage parents through workshops to ensure violence and abuse are never tolerated.

(MGO)