Editor’s note: We covered this event last year as well.
Below are statements from members of the organization on the importance of this walk event:
Teen Violence Awareness Walk. Image Credit – Healing Center NY
Teens Walk to End Dating Violence on Saturday, April 25th
Hundreds to March Across the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn, NY – On Saturday, April 25th, 2026, students, parents, advocates, elected officials, and community residents from across the five boroughs are marching across the Brooklyn Bridge to take a stand against teen dating violence and sexual assault. Together they will raise their voices and participate in the 14th annual NYC Teen Dating Violence Awareness Walk™ ― the largest event of its kind in the country.
Physical and sexual dating violence affect 19% of teens. 40% to 60% of all rape victims are under the age of 18, and the majority of these are adolescents. Women between the ages of 16 and 19 are 4 times more likely to experience sexual assault than those across all other age groups. In addition, about half of teens experience either stalking or harassment, and up to 65% report being subjected to psychological abuse.
These abuses are far too common, and the figures reported do not even begin to capture the true scope of the problem, given how reluctant many teen survivors are to share about such personal and stigmatized experiences.
“Far too often, teens have suffered in silence due to lack of knowledge or community action against the dating and sexual violence that so many experience,” says Noeline Maldonado, Executive Director of The Healing Center. “The NYC Teen Dating Violence Awareness Walk shines a light on this isolating issue and brings survivors and communities together to spread information and give our city’s youth a platform and a voice.”
The walk, organized by The Healing Center, will kick off with a rally at Korean War Veterans Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn, and will open for registration at 10:00 a.m. The rally will feature speakers who will share their personal experiences with teen dating violence and sexual assault, creative performances including song, skit, spoken word poetry, as well as words from nonprofit agencies and elected officials. At noon, participants will start their march across the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Healing Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the intervention and prevention of family violence, abuse, and sexual assault, serving people of diverse faiths, cultures, and personal experiences.
Teen Violence Awareness Walk. Image Credit – Healing Center NY
The NYC Teen Dating Violence Awareness Walk is sponsored by NYU Langone Health and Merchants of Third Avenue. The walk is co-sponsored by Beauty Beyond the Pieces, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Catcalls of NYC, CONNECT, Crime Victims Treatment Center, Day One, Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI), the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV), New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, New York City Teens Connection, the Office of Congressman Dan Goldman, the Office of Council Member Alexa Avilés, the Office of Council Member Julie Won, the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, Red Hook Community Justice Center, Safe Horizon, Sanctuary for Families, Violence Intervention Program (VIP), Womankind, and YWCA Brooklyn.
Teen Violence Awareness Walk. Image Credit – Healing Center NY
Banner Image: Teen Violence Awareness Walk. Image Credit – Healing Center NY
