Donna Bartos and her husband Peter moved to North Peoria from Pennsylvania in 2007. Donna is the founder and CEO of BLOOM365 (BLOOM365.org), a 501 c3 non-profit organization dedicated to preventing the root causes of abuse and violence by promoting safe and healthy relationships among Gen Z youth.
Tell us about your family.
My husband Peter owns State 48 Home Services based in Peoria, providing heating and cooling services. We have three children. Our son, P.J., is 18 and a freshman at ASU. We have two daughters. Gracie, 17, attends Glendale Prep and Hannah, 12, is a student at Arizona School for the Arts.
How does BLOOM365 achieve its mission of preventing the causes of abuse?
BLOOM365 (Bring Love On Others More, 365 Days a Year) has five cores to achieving our mission and vision:
- EDUCATE. We deliver and train others to facilitate our comprehensive BringLove365 healthy relationship education curriculum to students ages 11 to 24. The curriculum educates young people on the overt and subtle signs of controlling and abusive friendships and relationships while strengthening their communication conflict resolution, self-esteem and peer-to-peer advocacy skills. This provides them the knowledge and tools to cultivate safe and healthy relationships free of abuse.
- ADVOCATE. We increase the healing, safety and well-being of young people who have witnessed or experienced interpersonal violence through a 1.888.606.HOPE HelpLine, individual licensed counseling services, peer support groups and safety planning services.
- ACTIVATE. We train student-led peer advocate interns on high school and college campuses to engage their friends and peers in "Elephant in the Room" conversations and First Friday awareness month campaigns to foster a sustainable culture of respect, empathy and consent.
- INTERVENE. For 13- to 24-year-olds who are exhibiting the risk factors for perpetrating violence or "red flag" behaviors. We provide individual counseling and group intervention services.
- TRAIN. Through our 3 Rs—Recognize, Respond and Reframe—training, we equip parents/caregivers and "trusted adult allies" in schools and on military installations on how to recognize the signs of abuse, how to respond appropriately and ways to reference actions and policies to remove the barriers to seeking and receiving help.
What is your big, overarching goal for BLOOM365?
Our Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG2030) is to educate and activate 10% of Gen Z youth and adult allies across the US by 2030. We take a proactive approach to tackling interpersonal violence at the individual, relationship, community and societal level and are sowing the seeds of change to #UprootAbuse in a generation.
What made you start BLOOM365?
In 2006, I had a lightbulb moment: the abuse I experienced and witnessed as a child and the unhealthy and controlling relationship I experienced as a teen had a name and a root cause. It was time to find a better solution than just hotlines and shelters and accepting these problems as inevitable. So, I leveraged my know-how as a non-profit executive and set out on a mission to bridge the gaps between primary prevention (preventing abuse before it starts), secondary prevention (interrupting abuse to prevent continued harm) and tertiary prevention (after abuse healing and support for victims) responses.
I wish I and those who harmed me had something like BLOOM365 in their schools and communities as young people.
How can readers get involved?
There are five ways our community can get involved, and you can find details on the website (BLOOM365.org):
- Get trained as a Trusted Adult Ally to better support young people in your life.
- Donate and get a dollar-for-dollar Arizona Tax Credit.
- Volunteer or intern; lead a First Friday Awareness Campaign in your school, workplace, church or community in February, April or October.
- Designate BLOOM365 as the charity you support while shopping at Fry's with code TY262.
- Shop at smile.amazon.com and designate BLOOM365 to receive an Amazon donation of 5% on eligible purchases or donate an item off our Amazon Smile Wish List (BLOOM365 EIN: 26-2944620).
A final thought for our readers?
It is time to stop politicizing public health issues like interpersonal violence and start investing more time, attention and resources into primary prevention and collaboration. Most of us received "Stop Drop and Roll" education to prevent fire deaths as a child. According to the US Fire Administration, in 2021, fires resulted in 19 civilian deaths in Arizona. That same year, there were 94 domestic violence-related deaths in Arizona (ACESDV). If we can teach every student about fire safety to help save lives, why aren't we teaching every student about safe and healthy relationships to help save lives? BLOOM365 is on a mission to change how individuals, schools, families and communities think and act regarding interpersonal violence prevention and response.