Second Annual Breaking The Cycle of Violence Summit Registration Open

The City of Toledo will host the second annual Breaking the Cycle of Violence Summit on Friday, October 2, at ProMedica Toledo Hospital, bringing together professionals, survivors, youth, community leaders, and residents to explore strategies to prevent intimate partner violence and other forms of gender-based violence.

This year’s summit, themed “Beyond the Algorithm: Media, Culture, and the Path to Ending Intimate Partner Violence,” will examine how music and popular culture, social media and digital platforms, influencers, news and media, and cultural messages about gender and masculinity can shape beliefs and behaviors surrounding intimate partner violence.

The summit will feature presentations from Dr. Jabari Evans and Eric Marsh Sr., who will share insights and perspectives on the ways media and culture can influence relationships, attitudes, and behaviors.

Dr. Jabari Evans is an Associate Professor of Race and Media at the University of South Carolina and a 2026-2027 Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professor in the Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing at MIT. His presentation will examine how media and digital culture can shape ideas about relationships, gender, masculinity, power, control, and conflict, and how those same cultural spaces can be used to advance healthier norms. Dr. Evans is the author of two books: Hip-Hop Civics: Connected Learning in the Rap Classroom, and Drill Rap, Sex Work, and the Digital Underground: (Clout) chasing on Chicago's Southside. Before entering academia, Dr. Evans built a career as the recording artist Naledge and as a member of the hip-hop group Kidz in the Hall.

Eric Marsh Sr. is the Director of the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting (PCGVR), a nonprofit organization that brings together journalists, public health experts, and the survivor community to create more empathetic, ethical and impactful reporting on gun violence. As a lifelong resident of Philadelphia with over 25 years of professional nonprofit experience, Marsh's presentation will explore the responsibility and power of media in telling stories about violence and survivors without creating additional harm.

The event serves as the Toledo community’s official kickoff to Domestic Violence Awareness Month and provides an opportunity for the community to strengthen collaboration, share knowledge, and identify strategies to address teen dating violence, domestic violence, and other forms of gender-based violence.

What: Second Annual Breaking the Cycle of Violence Summit
When: Friday, October 2, 2026
Registration: 9 a.m.
Summit: 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public

Where: ProMedica Toledo Hospital
Kellermeyer Medical Education Center & Auditorium
2113 Hughes Drive
Toledo, OH 43606

Parking: P2 Parking Garage, Jobst Tower & Education Center Entrance