Funding keeps anti-bullying program going year-round
Social Health Association is able to deliver its Step Up for Kindness!™ program to kids year-round with funding from two collaborative granting organizations. The Summer Youth Program Fund, a group of 10 local partners, selected SHA and 164 other organizations in Marion County to receive backing for 194 activities and experiences for children this summer, including Step Up for Kindness!™.
A $100,000 grant from philanthropists at Impact 100 of Greater Indianapolis extends the program year-round and will enable SHA to deliver the anti-bullying program and teach more than 31,000 students how to be kind, empathetic and compassionate over two school years through June 2016.
First-year of impact
In the first year of this grant, SHA’s Health Educators have taught more than 11,000 Kindergarten through 8th grade students at 37 academic sites in central Indiana, which exceeded the 10,000 goal by 13 percent. Prior to the grant, Social Health served less than 2,000 kids annually, which means in one year, the grant quintupled the number of kids who received the program.
[Related: What can 100 women with $100,000 make happen?]
The Impact 100 grant has enabled SHA to hire and train professional educators to deliver the program and:
- Purchase evidence-based curriculum and customize it to fit the needs of Marion County schools
- Partner with PlayWorks to develop an interactive curriculum within the constraints of a classroom setting
- Revise and improve the curriculum after the first semester based on pre- and post-tests
- Identify bullying hot spots in targeted schools and share those results with their administration
- Create a new website with parent and teacher resources on bullying
- Promote Step Up for Kindness!™ through interviews with news outlets
Research funded too
The Impact 100 investment also enables SHA to hire Dr. James Brown, Indiana University School of Social Work, a former teacher and renowned researcher in bullying, to evaluate the impact of Step Up for Kindness!™. We’ve already obtained approval to conduct an 18-month bullying study in five IPS schools, including focus groups with parents, bus drivers and attendants and social workers.
Thank you!
Demonstrating the value and impact of our programs in such a way helps us secure future funding. We rely on and appreciate investments from groups like the Summer Youth Program Fund and Impact 100 to help us create a culture of kindness in schools and communities and further our mission to teach kids to live happy, healthy and safe lives now and for their future.