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News: Character & Asset Builders Newletter

November 2006

We continue our theme on Bullying, Violence and Creating Safe Environment

Approaching violence as a public health issue means more than extracting lead and suturing skin. It means preventing the bullets from ever entering, keeping the guns from ever being fired. The reasoning is simple: Preventing a disease is not only more humane but cheaper than curing it after it has taken hold.

Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith of the Harvard School of Public Health describes three fundamental components of violence prevention, using lung cancer as an analogy: 1.) discouraging people from beginning to smoke; 2.) helping smokers quit; and 3.) treating the lung cancer patient. Obviously, treatment alone cannot help reduce the incidence of lung cancer. Similarly, with regard to youth violence, a real solution won’t emerge from a fixation on whether to try juveniles as adults or whether to impose harsher sentences or how we can more effectively catch gun-toting kids.

Enduring solutions must include efforts to help young people at risk develop a high regard for human life — to help them develop strong moral character. Again, using the public-health model, there are three approaches to violence prevention:

1. Primary violence prevention — making nonviolence popular: teaching and encouraging nonviolent problem solving; redefining the “hero” and role models (through peer leadership and mediation; mass media messages, classroom education and community training programs)
2. Secondary violence prevention — counseling victims and “at-risk” youth: Mentoring programs; special counseling for children who have witnessed violent incidents; “in-school” suspension; “first offender” programs
3. Tertiary violence prevention — punishing and correcting violent behavior: Arrest, prosecution and incarceration.

Happily, people in communities across the land are pulling together to offer “primary” and “secondary” prevention services, often with promising results. Many of their organizations are listed below to assist you in your own efforts to help young people call on character for answers to life’s problems.

Youth Outreach Program Director, Lisa Thomas Macrum & Superintendent of Santa Barbara School District, Dr. Brian Sarvis have been invited to speak on KZSB Radio, Monday, October 16th at 10:00 am. ~Tune in to 1290 AM ~

This is a program sponsored by the Hutton Foundation moderated by Former S. B. Mayor Harriet Miller and Ed Geron. This month’s theme is Tolerance. They will be discussing Character Development, bullying and the upcoming Youth Summit which is themed “Empowering our Youth to Create Safe Environments – Anti-Bullying Strategies”

For your information-we’ve provided links on these topics below;

American Academy of Pediatrics: “Some Things You Should Know About Media Violence and Media Literacy”
How do children respond to violence they see on TV and in movies? This page answers the question with reference to several related studies.
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/childhealthmonth/media.htm

American Humane Association’s National Resource Center on the Link Between Violence to People and Animals
http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lk_home
Focuses on the link between children's cruelty to animals and other violent behavior.

Bureau for At-Risk Youth
http://www.at-risk.com
This organization offers videos, publications and other products related to the education and development of at-risk youth.

Center for Nonviolent Communication
http://www.cnvc.org/org.htm
Find articles, information on training programs and materials, and links to related websites around the world.

Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/index.html
Academic papers, online curricula and research projects are posted on this University of Colorado site.

Children’s Defense Fund
http://www.childrensdefense.org
Conduct a keyword search for "violence" to find statistics, parenting tips and information on pending federal legislation. Click here to read the article “Shattered Bodies, Shattered Lives: Ending Gun Violence Against Children” (originally appeared in the July 1998 edition of CDF Reports).

Connect for Kids (formerly KidsCampaigns)
http://www.connectforkids.org
A "quick search" under "violence prevention" will direct you to a list of articles aboutgangs, neighborhood patrols and prevention programs.

End Youth Violence
http://www.youthandviolence.com
In addition to its links to reports and articles on youth violence, this organization offers a toll-free violence and bullying hotline at (866) 89-YOUTH, available to anyone in Canada and the United States.

“Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools”
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html This guide was developed by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice to help school personnel, parents, community members and others identify early indicators of troubling and potentially dangerous student behavior.

Gangs and At-Risk Kids
http://www.gangsandkids.com/gangs.html

"Compassion"
© 2001, Rita Loyd

I open my heart to connect
with the suffering of others.
As my heart expands from this connection,
a desire to help grows strong.
From this desire to help,
comes the searching inside,
how can I make a difference?
How can I make this world a better place?
How can I contribute to peace
and to environmental preservation?
The answer lies within myself.
Within my own passion and talents. And it lies within the answers to my questions -

What do I do best? What do I care most about?

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