Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced today that her office, in partnership with Sandy Hook Promise (SHP), a national non-profit organization founded and led by family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. This collaboration will expand access to school-based violence prevention training for young people in up to 75 schools across the Commonwealth.
“These preventative measures in our schools are critical to build a strong foundation for our young people’s mental health and physical wellbeing and ensure school staff have the resources they need to provide young people with a supportive environment,” said AG Campbell. “I’m incredibly grateful to those involved with the Sandy Hook Promise for turning their pain into purpose and dedicating themselves to fostering safe spaces for young people to thrive.”
“AG Campbell's leadership in proactively advancing solutions to prevent youth violence and suicide is what we need in every state to effectively protect and empower children to help keep schools, homes, and communities safe," said Mark Barden, co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise. "We are grateful for her partnership in teaching the warning signs of potential violence and when and how to speak up to get help from a Trusted Adult. This proven approach has created more supportive learning environments for students and educators – and saved countless lives.”
The AG’s Office and SHP will partner to further implement SHP’s Know the Signs (KTS) program in three parts to train and equip educators and students with the tools to identify, assess, and intervene before a young person hurts themselves or others. Early-prevention measures like the KTS program are critical for achieving a lasting school climate change and are proven to help keep schools and communities safe with both youth and adults serving as upstanders.
Know the Signs three-part training program includes:
- Start With Hello is an age-appropriate program that teaches students in grades 6 through 12 how to minimize social isolation, empathize with others, and create a more inclusive and connected school culture.
- Say Something trains students in grades 6 through 12 to look for warning signs and threats, especially those on social media, of someone at risk of harming themselves or others, and how to tell a trusted adult to get help.
- SAVE Promise Clubs are student-led organizations that encourage youth to take charge of keeping schools safe by continually reinforcing key program messages with their peers.
This partnership builds on AG Campbell’s strategic priority to protect youth and promote public safety by strengthening public health. Under AG Campbell, the Office has taken on companies like Meta and its subsidiary Instagram for harming young people’s mental health and reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with JUUL for their leading role in the youth vaping epidemic. Additionally, AG Campbell has launched the Gun Violence Prevention Unit to enforce the state’s gun laws and uplift community-based gun violence prevention work across the Commonwealth.
The AG’s Office was awarded this funding through the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance’s FY23 STOP School Violence Program and will operate across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to provide desperately needed violence prevention curricula to both students and educators.
This matter was handled by Nathan Gardner and Allison Beaufort from the Attorney General’s Grants team.
Original source can be found here.