LEWISTON — The YWCA Central Maine and Community of Kindness, an informal network of volunteers working to find ways to make the community safer, are partnering with an international leader in violence prevention, Green Dot etc., to offer bystander training for area businesses and organizations.

This partnership will conduct focus groups across the community in mid-April, instructor-training workshops in August and small-group trainings in fall and winter.

“We’re excited that Green Dot is eager to work with us to learn all that it can about our community and then design trainings customized for Lewiston-Auburn,” said Kathy Durgin-Leighton, executive director of the YWCA Central Maine.

Green Dot etc. conducted focus groups across the community April 11 to 13 and will develop a customized curriculum to train 30 to 50 people in the Twin Cities in August. These workshops will teach leaders, frontline professionals and interested citizens effective strategies for dealing with hate threats and behaviors. They will be able to provide shorter workshops over the next six to nine months in their respective places of employment, worship, education, etc., thus providing a ripple effect to create a safer community for all.