Why We Do It
The Marissa Mission is an incredible program created in memory of Marissa Mathy-Zvaifler and all she and her unfortunate death stood for. We hold Marisa in reverence and learn from the great things she did, as well as her mistakes. Marissa Mission honors her brief life by empowering teen women through mentorship and creative self-empowerment.
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At any given time, over 100 young women in Portland are victims traded and moved within the I-5 Corridor from Portland to Seattle, even as far away as Las Vegas, and as young as ten years old. Many of these female victims are neither runaways nor kids who have been abandoned. Many of them are from what would be considered "good" families, lured or coerced by clever predators offering everything from modeling jobs, photo shoots, and shopping sprees in malls.
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One in 11 female youth report being a victim of physical violence in a dating relationship and research shows that females 16 – 19 years of age are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. Dating violence and sexual assault are impacting our youth at alarming rates.
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Marissa Mission vows to deny these predators as many victims as we can, seeding our ranks with self-empowered mutually-supportive peer mentors. Had Marissa or the young victims described above been allowed more opportunity to acquire life skills toward mindful choice, these situations may have been averted.
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At any given time, over 100 young women in Portland are victims traded and moved within the I-5 Corridor from Portland to Seattle, even as far away as Las Vegas, and as young as ten years old. Many of these female victims are neither runaways nor kids who have been abandoned. Many of them are from what would be considered "good" families, lured or coerced by clever predators offering everything from modeling jobs, photo shoots, and shopping sprees in malls.
***
One in 11 female youth report being a victim of physical violence in a dating relationship and research shows that females 16 – 19 years of age are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. Dating violence and sexual assault are impacting our youth at alarming rates.
***
Marissa Mission vows to deny these predators as many victims as we can, seeding our ranks with self-empowered mutually-supportive peer mentors. Had Marissa or the young victims described above been allowed more opportunity to acquire life skills toward mindful choice, these situations may have been averted.