ADL’s Pacific Southwest Regional Office has been selected to provide consulting, training and technical assistance to the City of Carson in the area of bullying prevention. ADL was encouraged by the responsive turnout at the Carson Bullying Prevention Summit on January 31 hosted by the City of Carson and ADL. Staff and Facilitators from ADL have already begun working with the City of Carson to implement bullying prevention initiatives and campaigns run by the students themselves. Bullying prevention is a high priority for the City’s residents, and the Summit was one of the first steps towards a common goal of ending bullying.
The purpose of the Summit was to specifically define “bullying,” “cyberbullying,” explore the different roles associated with bullying behavior, and gain feedback from the City’s residents—both students and parents—to inform future trainings and the bullying prevention campaign. Led by ADL’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute Project Director Dave Reynolds and Facilitator GusTavo Guerra Vasquez, the community was able to share the types of bullying they have encountered and the assistance they hope to gain from ADL. The meeting was very successful as community leaders, students, and parents shared their ideas on how to combat bullying, and what steps they believe need to be taken in order to change the climate in schools servicing Carson residents.
With valuable data from the Summit, ADL was able to create an initial plan to assist the City with bullying prevention initiatives. ADL will provide resources for parents and families, conduct outreach to the schools serving Carson students, provide trainings for school staff, and help organize a bullying prevention campaign competition for students. ADL is excited to be working with a city that sees the great importance of bullying prevention.