National Bullying Prevention Month

National Bullying Prevention Month is a campaign in the United States founded in 2006 by PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center. The campaign is held during the month of October and unites communities nationwide to educate and raise awareness of bullying prevention. Traditionally held the first week in October, the event was expanded in 2010 to include activities, education, and awareness building for the entire month. National Bullying Prevention Month is recognized in communities across the United States, with hundreds of schools and organizations signing on as partners. Facebook, CNN and Yahoo! Kids have supported the month through media outreach and dissemination.

PACER developed the initial campaign National Bullying Prevention and Awareness Week in response to the need to raise awareness of bullying, as it was historically viewed "a childhood rite of passage" and believed that bullying "made kids tougher", when the reality is that bullying has devastating effects such as school avoidance, loss of self-esteem, increased anxiety, and depression. PACER reached out to the community through partnerships with education based organizations such as National PTA, American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association to provide schools, parents and students with resources to respond to bullying behavior and to begin the shift of societal acceptance of bullying to social change of addressing the issue through education and support. PACER disseminated nationwide press releases through the partners and media channels, encouraging a call to action to educate the community about their role in bullying prevention, which provided the groundwork for the campaign to be consistently recognized as an annual event.

The 10th annual event in October 2015 PACER partners with:

The ninth annual event in October 2014

PACER partners with:

The eighth annual month in October 2013

PACER partners with:

The seventh annual month was held in October 2012.

PACER partners with:

The sixth annual was held in October 2011 and includes opportunities to partner, share activities, and support the movement.

National partners included PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center, National PTA, American Federation for Teachers, National School Climate Center (Bully Bust), National Education Association - NEA, National Association of State Directors of Special Education and many more!

Special events included:

• PACER's second annual Run, Walk, Roll Against Bullying. Other organizations around the country hold their own Run, Walk, Rolls using PACER's free online toolkit,

• PACER creates UNITY DAY with a call to action to "Make it orange, make it end, unite against bullying". Ellen DeGeneres wears orange to show her support.

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Wikipedia