A scaled down experience

So he created The Lisa Project in 10, a smaller version with fewer stories that were carefully chosen as the most effective. It’s scalable enough so that one person can set it up. That version came to Visalia in 2014 and Farmersville last year.

“A year ago, I was joking with Billie; why not have your own Lisa Project?” said Harden. So he created a second Lisa in 10 for Tulare County. “It starts the conversation,” said Shawl. “It’s so impactful that it can create changes.”  Harden has received many emails over the last six years with first person accounts of how people are now standing up and making a change. “When I had The Lisa Project in Riverside County, I got an email from a lady in Tulare County. She said she had seen The Lisa Project, and the next day she and her kids moved out of an abusive house.” To ensure that students have support and more information when viewing the project, the Tulare County Office of Education will be writing a curriculum to go with it. The hope is that it will be incorporated into the classroom. “People don’t want to talk about child abuse,” Shawl said. “People protect the perpetrators and forget the victims. Five children die every day in the U.S. due to child abuse. People think there isn’t anything they can do, but there is a lot they can do. First, we can change our thinking and know that we are responsible for all children. If we see abuse and neglect, we need to speak up.”