Project Safe Zone History
Project Safe Zone was founded in 2001 by a group of socially aware students at Santa Monica High School (SAMOHI). Currently the program is in its seventh year of operation and has grown from the original small group of students to over one hundred participants. A 2001 Samohi senior, Daria Mazey, initiated the PSZ program concept and design with the assistance of Spanish teacher Kelly Bates and Tessa Hicks from the Anti-Defamation League. Daria was active in Racial Harmony, a two-day retreat on campus dedicated to learning about racism, how we are affected by it and how we contribute to it in society. Her goal was to broaden these ideas to the issues of sexism, gender identity, gender equity and homophobia.
High school students are at a critical age to develop life long habits and attitudes and need to feel free to explore the hidden messages sent by the media, the educational system, the workplace and society in general. Sexism and homophobia constitute largely invisible and elusive problems faced in the home, work place and schools. Because of this, they often ignored and left unaddressed. The founders of PSZ feel that young women and men who learn about and begin questioning their individual roles as well as their participation in negative gender stereotyping, homophobia and sexism will be uniquely advantaged in their own development and future.
Ms. Bates continues to facilitate the current program at Samohi with a new group of student facilitators each year.