America's Promise Alliance

Community Matters spearheads national anti-bullying efforts

10/15/2010

By Hilary Strahota

Alliance partner Community Matters is at the forefront of finding solutions to one of the fastest growing issues facing our children—bullying and cyber-bullying. Calling attention to this alarming national crisis, Community Matters and numerous nonprofits around the country are participating in this month’s National Bullying Prevention Campaign.

The fact that youth-to-youth mistreatment is getting younger, meaner, more difficult for adults to identify, and more widely accepted in schools is alarming. According to Community Matters, as many as 900,000 students nationally are cyber-bullied by their peers per year. In addition, more than 160,000 children stay home from school each day because they are afraid of being bullied, teased, excluded or otherwise victimized by their peers.

Cyber-bullying has resulted in approximately 36 suicides of young people in the last four years. In the last few weeks alone, six children lost their lives due to cyber-bullying and bullying. This growing epidemic has parents, educators, and citizens ready to take action.

“Young people can be the change we wish to see in the world,” said Rick Phillips, executive director of Community Matters. “Their actions can create a social tipping point to restore peace, justice and civility in our nation’s schools and communities. This month we need to build a national alliance and dialogue of solution-focused strategies to stop bullying, cyber-bullying and hate crimes.”

Community Matters’ researched-based program, Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) has been well-received in more than 26 States and 1,000 schools to end bullying and violence amongst 40,000 youth across the nation. SSA is a “solution-based” approach that wakes up the courage of young people and equips them with non-violent communication skills to speak up, intervene and stop harassment, meanness, and all forms of bullying.

The schools who have utilized the SSA program have seen results including decreased discipline referrals, suspensions and expulsions; decreased tension and increased tolerance; increased flow of information to adults about potentially hurtful and violent acts; and improved school climate impacting attendance and academic performance.

 “Too many TV programs disproportionately focus on the tragedy, the sadness, the ‘wrongness’, but don’t provide hands on and proven strategies for changing the situation,” Phillips added. “Let’s give people both hope and real solutions that will inspire all of us to get involved and stop this epidemic that is spreading across our country.”

Founded in 1996 to end bullying in elementary, middle and high schools, Community Matters is a nonprofit organization that collaborates with schools and communities to engage, equip and empower young people to become change agents and peacemakers.

• Read a joint statement released today by the American Federation of Teachers, the National PTA, America's Promise Alliance and the American Association of School Administrators on redoubling anti-bullying efforts to protect children.
• To contact Community Matters to learn more about how to get involved in the Safe School Ambassadors program, email team@community-matters.org , call (707) 823-6159 or visit www.community-matters.org .