The Healthy Masculinity Training Institute, or HMTI — an intensive experience that prepares leaders to model and teach healthy masculinity in their own communities.
MCSR’s facilitation training draws on 30 years of experience to help you build the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to engage and mobilize youth and adults, while connecting you with a community of practitioners.
Experienced, in-depth technical assistance for any agency, school, organization, or institution — from prevention strategy and program design to policy and evaluation.
About
Our mission & vision
Rooted in community, based in strength, and grounded in respect, MCSR prevents violence through transformational programs and services for youth and adults that promote healthy masculinity and empowered womanhood.
The vision
Infinite possibilities of cultures free from violence.
Rooted in community · Based in strength · Grounded in respect
Our Story
A growing grassroots effort in the nation’s capital set out to shift the paradigm — focusing on the root cause of men’s violence against women, and casting boys and men as allies in the work.
1997
Before MCSR, prevention centered on risk-reduction and self-defense aimed at women. Founded in Washington, DC, MCSR pioneered a proactive strategy — engaging boys and men as catalysts for change and establishing primary prevention as the most effective vehicle for it.
2000
MCSR’s first signature program — the Men of Strength (MOST) Club — launched at Ballou High School. A 22-week, CDC-evaluated curriculum pairs Counter Stories with near-peer mentoring to give young men a structured space to build healthy definitions of masculinity.
2010
Youth work expanded with Women Inspiring Strength and Empowerment (WISE), a program for girls and young women. Reputation and demand rippled MOST Clubs across every DC public school — and into urban, rural, and frontier communities nationwide.
2012
The Healthy Masculinity Action Project (HMAP) mobilized dozens of national organizations, agencies, and corporate partners — reaching more than 60 million people and raising the collective consciousness about healthy masculinity’s role in building cultures of respect.
Today
As co-founder and steward of the DC Coalition to End Sexual Violence, creator of the ASK (Assault. Services. Knowledge.) platform, and partner to thousands of organizations, all branches of the armed services, and every major sports league — MCSR’s global reach exceeds 500 million people.
Our Approach
Advocated by the CDC for primary prevention, the model recognizes that people never exist in isolation — they live inside nested contexts. MCSR’s Healthy Masculinity Action Project addresses every level.
What we do
From the classroom to the locker room to the boardroom, MCSR meets people where they are — building skills, shifting norms, and equipping a new generation of leaders who model strength without violence.
Our signature youth program: a 22-week curriculum and near-peer mentoring that give young men a structured space to build healthy definitions of masculinity.
Women Inspiring Strength and Empowerment — a companion program supporting girls and young women as leaders in their schools and communities.
A train-the-trainer model that has strengthened the skills of more than 12,000 trainers across urban, rural, suburban, and frontier communities.
A strength-based structure for secondary schools and campuses that engages men — especially student-athletes — as allies in preventing gender-based violence.
Where Do You Stand?, Young Men of Strength, and Consent: Yours. Mine. Ours. — media that models accountability, respect, and everyday consent.
Specialized knowledge, resources, and support that strengthen the capacity of organizations and communities to prevent violence.
