Working on "I Care!" at South Plantation High School, February 15, 2012

(The photo in this blog was taken by one of the students, in fact — thanks, Alexandra!) Their teacher, Sarah Lerner, has been wonderfully helpful as we get into the nuts and bolts of our work. So this week, I just wanted to update you briefly on our progress. Among the elements that the students have decided to include in “I Care!” is a comic book on driver safety — but with a twist. We can’t give away the details yet but it’s going to be something very special. There will be poetry too and stories and yes some facts and figures … but all of it done in a way that teen drivers are likely to find appealing. “Cool,” in other words, written by teens for teens. So for now, let me assure you the students are working hard on this project. We feel quite confident “I Care!” will be different from any other teen driver safety program in the country … and, we believe, more effective in saving lives.

The Humanity Project at the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Open House: February 2, 2012

We also want to thank our wonderful friends at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital for another chance to take part in their community open houses. Several hundred children and parents attended the JDCH Valentine’s open house last Thursday … and our Humanity Project booth was a great chance to talk with these folks about our anti-bullying program. We gladly answered their questions about bullying and gave advice about dealing with bullying situations in their schools.

Finally today, we’d like to let you know that the latest Humanity Project blog has been posted by our colleagues across the ocean in Africa: the Egyptian Association for Educational Resources, or E-ERA. You may know that we have a monthly blog-and-photo exchange with this highly respected nonprofit, which also works with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Johns Hopkins University and other important institutions. E-ERA is non-religious and non-political, like the Humanity Project. And like us, they are a humanitarian organization that helps young people. The Humanity Project/E-ERA blogs are intended to allow our supporters to gain a greater insight into a fellow nonprofit that’s working in another culture. We believe these blogs emphasize the common humanity that unites all human beings rather than the relatively superficial differences that divide us. You can read our new blog at http://egypt-era.org/

(Editor’s Note: This blog was written for the Humanity Project by Dr. Laura Finley, Vice President of the Humanity Project Board of Directors. Dr. Finley is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Barry University.)

As a new Board Member for the Humanity Project, I wanted to offer a short piece on an area in which I have some expertise. That is the connection between dating and domestic violence and bullying. For six years I have worked in the field of domestic violence advocacy, in addition to authoring several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on the issue. I currently serve as Chair of the Board of Directors of No More Tears, a non-profit that provides individualized assistance to victims of domestic violence and their children, and am editing the Encyclopedia of Domestic Abuse for ABC-CLIO Press, which will be published in 2013. I offer this piece to provoke thought about the similarities between these phenomena and to promote the Humanity Project’s strategy for prevention.

Both bullying and dating violence are very common among school-aged youth, with estimates between 25% and 30% of teens being involved in an abusive relationship and 30% of young people experiencing bullying. Both are, at root, about the need one person feels to obtain and maintain power and control over another. Perpetrators of dating violence and bullies both use a variety of tactics to do so, including but not limited to verbal harassment, emotional abuse, intimidation, unwanted sexual behavior or harassment, cyber-threats, use of peer pressure, and more. Far from isolated incidents, bullying and dating violence are patterned behaviors.

Although not exclusively, both dating violence and bullying often enter the school walls, yet too often educators are not adequately prepared to respond due to inadequate or non-existent training. Additionally, peers are witness to the abuse and bullying in the majority of cases, although many young people are hesitant to speak out. Victims of both problems can suffer emotionally and physically, and many experience great difficulty in school. Victims may be isolated from peers, have difficulty concentrating, and may act out or withdraw as a way of dealing with the abuse. In fact, several studies have found bullying to be predictive of later involvement in abusive dating and/or domestic relationships. Useful strategies to address both phenomena, then, involve training educators to recognize warning signs and to know the school’s protocol once either form of abuse is identified. Also important is the training of students to understand how they can help if a friend or peer is being abused or bullied. Research has repeatedly documented the effectiveness of the bystander approach. This approach addresses students not as would-be victims or perpetrators, which tend to alienate young people, but rather as would-be bystanders who can stop bullies or abusers by speaking up and interrupting the behavior. The Humanity Project’s Anti-bullying Through The Arts program is based on a bystander approach, which is the key to its success.

Dr. Laura Finley

As the New Year begins, we proudly welcome a wonderful new member to the Humanity Project team. In December, Dr. Laura Finley was unanimously elected as a Vice President of our Board of Directors. Laura earned her Ph.D. in sociology and currently is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Barry University. She is the author or co-author of ten books as well as many journal articles and book chapters. Her impressive resume includes active involvement at the local, state and federal levels to promote peace, justice and human rights. As if this weren’t enough to keep her busy, Laura started the Center for Living and Teaching Peace in 2008, offering training and education to help promote peace in all its forms. Among her other Board memberships is a seat on No More Tears, a nonprofit that aids victims of domestic abuse. We’ve known Laura for a few years and we have seen some of her fine work close up — including a joint TV appearance with the Humanity Project for a discussion about school bullying. We strongly believe that Dr. Laura Finley will bring her own passion and insight to the Humanity Project’s efforts in the months to come. Our organization creates innovative, practical programs that apply cooperation and social connection to help alleviate the problems of society. That seems to be right up Laura’s alley. Welcome, Laura!

Due to the lack of science and technology activities and education in Egypt, the Egyptian Association for Educational Resources (E-ERA) is planning to implement the Young Scientist Enrichment Program. This is intended to promote scientific education in Egypt. The new project is one of our humanitarian as well as educational efforts. Through summer camps, we intend to help Egyptian youth to experience science in an interactive and educational way that brings fun and a sense of achievement to them.

Egyptian youth eagerly await the chance to learn

The Young Scientist Enrichment Program invited students to explore science and technology in order to develop their scientific thinking not only in their academic and professional lives but also as a tool in their decision making process affecting all aspects of their lives. Our partners are the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University and the International Institute for Education. The program includes a three level selection process. Egyptian young people will be given opportunities to test their capabilities in science and technology by active participation in an online competition and science fairs. They also will go through comprehensive assessments for English, math and intra/interpersonal skills. The new science program is available for students from private and public schools in all Egyptian governorates. The scientific fairs will be conducted in three locations (Cairo, Alexandria, Assuit) for students to have opportunities to express their scientific and technological ideas, experiments and inventions.

The Egyptian Association for Educational Resources is a non-governmental and nonprofit organization founded in 2005 under the Ministry of Social Solidarity. It is a professional grassroots organization working to promote youth development through many pillars such as civic education, professional development, cross-cultural understanding and youth empowerment and leadership. Learn more at http://egypt-era.org/)

“There once was a wise elder who went to the sea to contemplate. While walking along the shore one day, the elder looked down the beach and saw a human figure. The elder began to walk faster to catch up. Getting closer, the elder saw this was a child throwing starfish back into the sea. ‘But don’t you realize,’ asked the elder, ‘that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it? They are going to die after being washed ashore. You can’t possibly make a difference!’ The child listened politely, then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it gently into the sea just beyond the waves. The child looked at the elder and replied, ‘It made a difference for that one!’”

And with this tale, we wish you and everyone a joyful, productive, healthy year of sharing our best efforts with each other — a year of making a difference in all the ways we can, big and small. Maybe this story will help a few more of us to do that. We really are making a difference to the world around us when we try to do positive things. Just look around for yourself and you’ll see it’s quite true. Like the boy, we can’t fix all the problems … but we can fix some of them.

CSC is a tax-funded entity that serves as a center for agencies and individuals working to improve life for children in this part of the state. Led by the ever-energetic and caring Cindy J. Arenberg Seltzer, CSC has assembled a strong staff of folks who diligently focus on their mission. They help a broad variety of organizations with resulting dramatic reductions in youth violence, teen pregnancy, school dropouts and much more. The Humanity Project serves on committees with Cindy and members of her great team — we know them well. And the Humanity Project also has taught classes at CSC, showing other nonprofit groups how to better appeal to teen sensibilities in afterschool programs. We are partners, CSC and the Humanity Project. Children’s Services Council is among a select group of our very early sponsors, going all the way back to our Thousand Youth March for Humanity — the nation’s first mass children’s march against school bullying. This was years before bullying became the hot topic it is today. But CSC was there to help us then … and now. You can learn more about CSC by visiting their website: http://www2.cscbroward.org/ Gratitude is a wonderful thing, yes. And we are grateful to Cindy and CSC for all they do to help the Humanity Project and the community at large. We look forward to many years of working with CSC to make life better, much better, for children in South Florida.