PLAYBuilding CommUNITY Connections to Prevent Bullying
The goal of PACER's Building CommUNITY project is to empower school and community members to develop stronger relationships where they live and work in order to create environments that encourage positive social behaviors for youth and those that interact with them. Promoting behaviors such as kindness toward others, acceptance of difference, and inclusion helps to proactively prevent school-age bullying.
What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?
Community Safety
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
County of Los Angeles
In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?
Expand existing project, program, or initiative
What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?
The 2022 population estimate for L.A. County is close to 10 million, and 21.1% are children between the ages of 5 and 18. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, about 20% of them will report being bullied during the course of the year. For children with disabilities, for LGBTQ+ children, and for children of color, those numbers are much higher. PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center's (NBPC) goal is to reduce student bullying rates by building more inclusive, accepting communities and encouraging students and adults to take agency on these issues not only in the classroom, but also in their everyday lives. The NBPC's CommUNITY project will promote this goal by educating students, parents, teachers, and other community leaders on creating healthier communities. This will be achieved by distributing CommUNITY activity kits throughout L.A. County and following up with free presentations on bullying prevention and community building for students and adults.
Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.
The NBPC's CommUNITY project is designed to engage and inform an audience to respond to the question: "What will you do to build commUNITY?" The project will consist of distributing 500 CommUNITY activity kits to schools and other community spaces around L.A. County, virtual presentations for adults, and virtual classroom visits with the PACER puppets. The kits will provide resources that can be used to engage audiences to think about and implement ideas around unity in their communities. PACER staff will then engage with those community members by presenting up-to-date information on bullying prevention. Project staff will also create a virtual monthly puppet presentation for participants highlighting the concept of commUNITY along with ideas to take action.
Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.
The CommUNITY Project in the short term will directly reach about 15,000 students in L.A. County schools with the CommUNITY kits. Over the course of the next twelve months, the project will strengthen community bonds in these schools and teach students how to be more active members in their classrooms and broader communities. The six interactive classroom visits by PACER puppets and virtual presentations for children and adults will continue to engage participants in the short-term and educate them on action steps. Long-term goals for the project include fostering more intentional community engagement among students and their families in L.A. County. The outreach in the project is designed to be a foundation that the community members themselves can use and build on for the future.
What evidence do you have that this project, program, or initiative is or will be successful, and how will you define and measure success?
PACER has a strong commitment to program evaluation. All evaluation data is reviewed regularly by PACER's Executive Director, the Director of PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center, and program staff.? ? PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center will measure the success of its project in the following ways:? - Record the number of kits and resources disseminated.? - Record the number of parents, professionals, and students reached through presentations. - Collect evaluation forms from individuals attending presentations and receiving kits and other classroom resources. - It is expected that 80% of educators will report that the provided materials and activities helped their students with ideas how to take action to prevent bullying.?
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?
Direct Impact: 15,000
Indirect Impact: 400,000