The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is proud of its long history of working with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and other student groups to promote healthy kids and safe schools. These partnerships are a great chance for HRSA to reach youth in their schools and community to prevent bullying. Over the years, HRSA and GLSEN have shared resources and spoken at events. This year, we are continuing that work on social media for GLSEN’s No Name Calling Week. Continue Reading

January is National Mentoring Month. Research has shown that mentoring programs can be an effective tool for enhancing the positive development of youth in the foster care system.

Over the past three decades, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has supported a variety of mentoring programs to meet the needs of at-risk and troubled youth. The office works on traditional one-on-one relationships, group mentoring, e-mentoring and other innovative approaches to reach teens. Continue Reading

Youth from around the country and those overseas in U.S. Department of Defense schools, aged 13 to 18 years, took our challenge and submitted almost 900 entries for the 2012 StopBullying.gov Video Challenge!

The Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention have worked our way through all the creative videos and screened them for eligibility based on the challenge rules. We ranked each of the eligible videos according to the published criteria, and considered feedback from our technical advisors:

Filmmaker Lee Hirsch; Alice Cahn from Cartoon Network’s Stop Bullying, Speak Up! Campaign; Deborah Leiter from the Ad Council; and Scott Hannah and Tyler Gregory, previous finalists of... Continue Reading

Student leaders from Quantico high school, 4H, Baltimore Intersection and DC Mayors Youth Advisory Council played a big role at the Bullying Prevention Summit. A subset of these students spoke with Secretary Arne Duncan and Assistant Secretary Deb Delisle about their student led bullying prevention efforts.

When I helped close the third annual Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit on Tuesday, my colleagues and I gave attendees a simple charge: what are you going to do to further bullying prevention in the next year?

  Continue Reading

Yesterday, Cynthia Germanotta and I had the opportunity to discuss how to empower young people and end bullying at the Third Annual Bullying Prevention Summit in Washington, D.C. Cynthia and her daughter, Lady Gaga, recently founded the Born This Way Foundationto empower young people with the skills and opportunities they need to build a kinder, braver world.

As moms, both Cynthia and I realize the impact that bullying—and kindness—can have on young people. We both agreed that we must all stay focused on ending bullying because no young person, or their loved ones, should have to endure the pain, agony, and loss to our families, schools, and communities that can come with bullying.

We also agreed that we need to reinforce... Continue Reading

Next week, leaders of non-profit and corporate organizations engaged in anti-bullying work will join researchers, parents and students to participate in the third Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit on August 6th and 7th in Washington, D.C.

The Summit is hosted by the Department of Education and will bring these groups and individuals together to discuss the successes and challenges of addressing bullying, and what needs to be done in the year to come. We’ve come a long way in the past year, but there is much to learn from the people who address bullying in the work they do day to day. It’s important for us to hear the voices of those impacted by bullying from around the country and to share the knowledge we’ve gained to stop bullying. So for the first time this year, we will be livestreaming the entire Summit and engaging the at-home audience through Twitter... Continue Reading