Six youth lost their lives due to cyber-bullying, bullying and hate crimesOct 07 2010By Rick Phillips, Founder and Executive Director On August 11-12th, President Obama held the first White House Summit on Bullying. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, stated in his opening remarks, “Bullying is epidemic in urban, suburban, and rural schools. The statistics are staggering.” In 2007, more than 900,000 secondary students reported being cyber-bullied according to Arne Duncan’s remarks. Community Matters is at the forefront finding solutions to one of the fastest growing issues facing our children - bullying and cyber-bullying. This week major media outlets, including Dr. Phil, Oprah, The Ellen Degeneres Show, CNN Anderson Cooper 360, are all covering the national epidemic on bullying. Why? Because this growing epidemic has parents, educators, and citizens scared, outraged and calling for help. In the last few weeks six youth lost their lives due to cyber-bullying, bullying and hate crimes: Asher Brown (age 13), Seth Walsh (age 13), Justin Aaberg (age 15), Billy Lucas (age 15), Tyler Clementi (age 18), Raymond Chase (age 19). Fifteen years ago Community Matters was founded to prevent and end bullying in elementary, middle and high schools. Today, Community Matters is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit having been featured on the NBC Today Show, CNN, Chicago WGN-TV, NPR and numerous other television programs. Community Matters’ flagship program, Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) has been well-received in over 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 and empowers them to speak up, intervene and stop harassment, meanness, and all forms of bullying. Young people can “be the change” we wish to see in the world. Their actions can create a social tipping point, expressing the compassion, courage and the competence needed to restore peace, justice and civility in our nations schools and communities. 
Recent Posts10 Ways You Can Help To Stop BullyingWe have a choice. We can be overwhelmed by the size and scope of the issue and do nothing, or we can wake up our courage and do something that contributes to making things better. ‘Bully’ movie opens Friday, March 30th - Waking Up Courage is the Solution to Stopping BullyingThe new movie “Bully” opens March 30th in major cities nationwide. The film documents bullying between real kids and outlines the extent of the bullying epidemic. But solutions do exist – in the form of programs like Safe School Ambassadors that awaken the courage of bystanders to speak up when they see bullying occur. Rick Phillips Speaks On Bullying at the Clinton School of Public ServiceThe Clinton School of Public Service invited Rick Phillips, Executive Director of Community Matters as one of their Distinguished Speakers for their series of public lectures in Little Rock, Arkansas. Safe School Ambassadors school nationally recognized for its tolerance effortsMesa Linda Middle School in Victorville, CA was recognized as a “Mix It Up” Model School by the Teaching Tolerance Project. Straight Talk TNT - Teens ‘n Twenties Publishes Article Praising Safe School Ambassadors ProgramLauren Forcella, founder and editor of the website Straight Talk TNT: Teens ‘n Twenties, has written and published an article on her site praising the effectiveness of the Safe School Ambassadors program. |