Community and Neighborhood bully and youth violence prevention


Our communities and neighborhoods are the front line of defense against bullying and youth violence. Our communities and neighborhoods are the source of problems. It is in our communities where bullies are born raised and trained. It is the parents and daycare providers that set the stage for how their children turn out. Whether a child turns into a caring respectful child or an insensitive disrespectful bully is completely up to the care givers. There is an old saying “It takes a village to raise a child” it would therefore be safe to say “It take a village to change a child into a bully”. While it is difficult to prevent bully and abusive parents from training their kids to be bullies, it is certainly possible to make sure our daycares and communities are properly run to prevent and discourage anti-social behavior that leads to bullying. The statement made below in the U.S. is just as valid here in Manitoba.

“America’s fight against violence must begin in the high
chair, not the electric chair. Anything less leaves America’s
police fighting with one hand tied behind our backs.”
– George Sweat, Director, North Carolina Office of
Juvenile Justice; former police chief, Winston-Salem, NC

Today, our municipal governments and planning departments are blissfully unaware and unconcerned that their actions are contributing to and even encouraging anti-social behavior and bullying. These politicians and beauracrats are all wrapped up in road construction, building sportsplexes, opening daycares, and increasing general maintenance and other efforts that result in photo opportunities and good publicity. Our municipal government should be required to create an anti-bully policy to address the issues destroying our communities, but this type of action would not generate the same positive reaction so it is ignored.

Our children spend less than one third of their time in school so no matter how proactive our school system is in providing an environment of inclusion, the climate once they leave school will have a greater impact. If the climate in the community is one of hate, violence, discrimination and segregation, then the children will learn to hate, act violently, discriminate and segregate.

Most violent juvenile crimes are committed
between 2:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

The local council and planning departments need to meet with community members, incorporating anti-bullying messages and strategies in youth-related activities in the community (including recreational activities, scouting, and after-school programs). There needs to be a feeling of inclusion for all not just the popular kids.

Being Proactive

- Bullying and victimization do not occur in isolation. Therefore, interventions with the bully and/or victim are necessary but not sufficient.
- Effective interventions must move beyond the bully and victims to include: peers, schools, daycares, community leaders and society.
- Need to recognize the roles and responsibilities of bullies, victims, peers, teachers, counselors, principal, and community at large.
- To address the problem effectively, change is required at all of these levels of the system. Missing one will result in failure
- A focus on prevention of bullying needs to be introduced well before school age is reached, in our daycares, preschools and then in kindergarten and continued throughout elementary, middle and high schools
- Adults in the schools and daycares need to model the attitudes and behavior expected of children. Children learn by example
- Leadership to address bullying is essential for change. We need leaders not bosses running our communities

Everyone who cares about children cares about protecting them from violence. As one of the most pervasive forms of aggression in the continuum of violence, bullying deserves the attention of our whole community. Reducing and preventing bullying will require a community-wide and prolonged effort, involving policymakers, administrators, teachers, students, parents, police and community members.

One of the biggest areas of disappointment in our communities is the failure to practice prevention. Our government always looks for trouble before reacting instead of preventing the trouble in the first place. Our government issues, permits, licenses and variances without considering the impact to neighbors, or simply ignoring the impact. This is one reason every community government should have an Anti-Bully and Youth Violence Prevention Association (ABA) department that communicates and co-ordinates with the provincial level. This department would provide the council with the expertise to prevent problems and also report to the provincial office if there appears to be acts of favoritism between the council or planning and an individual.

The main purpose of this department (ABA) would be to prevent youth crime and bullying by identifying all short comings within the community. The ABA would provide input to the government to identify areas where anti-social behavior is present and assign councilors and mediators to defuse the situation.  Anti-social behavior includes a range of problems noisy neighbors, home businesses, abandoned cars, vandalism, graffiti, litter and youth and adult nuisance. It creates an environment in which crime can take hold and it can wreck people’s everyday lives.

The ABA would consist of community members that have expressed a strong commitment to stop bullying and youth violence, councilors to provide counseling to troubled youth and families, Police officers to make sure everyone is aware of the law and specialists in bullying that can provide protection against reprisals and prevent the situation from turning into community bullying. The ABA would also provide families experiencing bullying with information as to who they can contact if they feel the problems have escalated to the point where intervention at the community level is no longer sufficient. Families could then receive support at a higher level if they feel that the community level government is either unwilling or unable to correct the situation.

Focus Groups and Interviews
Focus groups would be organized with community residents with a facilitator to help guide the discussion. The facilitator would begin with an introduction, which included a welcome, a brief introduction of the moderators, an overview of the topics and ground rules for the discussions. The purpose for conducting a focus group would also be outlined. Participants would be asked to introduce themselves to the rest of the group. One moderator would direct the discussion, while the other took notes on the session.

 Questions would be asked to generate information about what is concerning certain families. Accompanying each question, a list of problems that could be used to encourage and direct the conversation. The moderator remains flexible throughout the session, allowing the discussion to progress in a natural way and encouraging unscheduled, but related, topics to surface within the group. Participants are instructed to speak at random. If someone was less vocal and had not contributed during the session, the moderator would provide the opportunity for them to speak by specifically addressing them in the discussion.

Activities for everyone

Together with community partners, the ABA develops and implements a variety of programs, activities and events to improve community wellness. The need for these programs is identified by community members, agencies, schools, businesses, community associations and crime councils.  Programming varies by community. Some of the current programs are:

Citizen Squads

Neighborhood patrol and citizen surveillance teams reduce opportunities for crime through increased visibility of preventative enforcement.

Bully-Busters

This program consists of sessions taught to children in local community centers away from school to discuss the importance of not bullying. It would be used to teach children the importance of respecting not only other children, but adults and their property. The program would provide mentorship for troubled children that come from broken or dysfunctional homes. Those youths that demonstrated a strong sense of leadership and wanted to do more could form youth patrollers that would enter the community and look for children that have been left out and are alone and at risk of developing serous anti-social attitudes. Parent advisory groups would form committees to sustain the program and provide assistance.

Graffiti and Vandalism Patrol

Community volunteers clean up graffiti and vandalism as it occurs. This decreases repeat offences and increases the visual attractiveness of the community and helps out neighbors that have been victimized by vandals. It also lets the neighbors know that they are not alone and that help is just a doorway away. It creates a sense of safety

Community Spirit Events

This could take the form of a block party where community leaders close down a street and serve up free drinks and snacks and invite everyone to mingle. It is especially important that any family that is being isolated or ignored by the neighbors be made to feel welcome and not ignored. Community leaders could bring in speakers that discuss such items as the importance of communication between neighbors to reduce crime. Neighbor’s rights to an enjoyable quality of life and sense of safety should be conveyed to all

Community Mobilization

This would be designed to bring neighbors out onto the street to meet each other in an informal and non-confrontational environment. Only people from the street would be allowed and the group would include the local councilor, a member of the police and possibly a conflict resolutions provider. The purpose of this would be to reduce family isolation and an increased sense of community where all residents are valued for what they can contribute and no one is belittled for not agreeing with another neighbor.

Building Relationships

This would be designed to get neighbors together and empower them to take control of their street. Letting neighbors control their environment builds stronger communities. Communities where decisions are made at the council level only and ignore neighbor’s wishes will result in animosity, hatred and a sense of fear of reprisal for having stood up against something. (Bully Culture)


Conclusion

Our communities are a lot like our cars. If you constantly use it, but neglect to maintain it, it won’t be long before you have problems. Your engine starts to run rough, the tires wear out; filters get clogged and so on. Preventative maintenance done on a regular and continuous basis prevents this. Filters are replaced, oil is changed, and tune-ups are done. Let’s start tuning up our communities so they start running smoothly again, before they need a complete rebuild.

Fixing our communities so they stop being a source of problems is possible. It just requires leadership and cooperation. Like looking after your car, the rewards greatly out weigh the costs. Soon we have a reliable safe community environment that everyone can enjoy…. not just the bullies.