• Video Clips
• Evidence of Success
  • Evaluation Report 2011
• Impact of Ambassadors
  • Benefits to Schools
  • Measurement & Impact
• Frequency and Effectiveness of Ambassador Interventions
  • Download Report
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Safe School Ambassadors (SSA)

About

The Safe School Ambassadors® (SSA) program empowers leaders from the diverse groups and cliques on campus and equips them with nonviolent communication and intervention skills to stop bullying and violence among their peers.  To read more, download the Program Overview.

Watch SSA Videos

• Video: NBC Today Show 
• Video: Elementary School Overview
• Video: Middle School Overview
• Video: High School Overview

Why it’s effective

• Carefully identifying and engaging the influential students – who shape the school’s norms – harnesses their power to improve the school’s climate.
• Students acquire skills they can use in the moment, with their friends, to defuse and deescalate potentially hurtful incidents.
• Key adults are trained to facilitate regular small-group meetings of Ambassadors which sharpen their skills, sustain their commitment, and increase their reporting of dangerous activities like planned fights or weapons on campus.
• Schools receive ongoing coaching and support – via phone, email, bulletins and web-based resources – to help address any implementation challenges and sustain the program.

Enhanced Elementary Model – Fall 2011

This school-wide model equips students with the language, tools and motivation to treat each other with kindness and respect, and to speak up when their friends and classmates don’t. A group of influential upper-elementary students is trained and supported to:

• notice mistreatment among their peers and intervene to prevent or stop it (the traditional Ambassador role), and
• lead a series of classroom activities at all grade levels to build a foundation of social skills and relationships that support positive classroom and school climate.

Delivered in two powerful days, the SSA Enhanced Elementary program includes training and presentations for staff, administrators, parents and community.
Download the Enhanced Elementary Program Overview.

Testimonials

• “Safe School Ambassadors is the single most significant factor in changing our school climate this year.”
-Kathy Weigel, Principal, Atlantic High School, Palm Beach County, Florida
• “Climates of safety, respect, and emotional support can help diminish the possibility of targeted violence in schools.”
-U.S. Secret Service & U.S. Department of Education, Threat Assessment Guide

Learn More

• How it Works
• Why it Works

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Program Facts

• Implemented in 900 schools across 28 states and 2 Canadian provinces
• Serving students in grades 4-12
• Over 60,000 students and 5,000 adults trained

See a list of schools served by Community Matters

Bullying - What’s the Problem?

Find out more about the extent and costs of bullying and other forms of peer mistreatment, nationally and at your school

Results:

• Reduces bullying, violence and social mistreatment
• Improves grades, attendance and dropout rates
• Reduces administrative time on discipline and increases classroom time on task
• Cuts vandalism, maintenance and repair costs
• Decreases security costs and risk of lawsuits
• Improves school climate

See more Benefits

Video: Inner-City Ambassadors Thwart Gangs and Reduce Violence
Video: Impact of Ambassadors

Download Measurement & Impact.

Read the report: Frequency and Effectiveness of Ambassador Interventions.