Neighborhoods

Bully Free Strategies for Neighborhood Bullies of All Sizes

Your Neighborhood Can Be  A Bully-Free Zone

In 1964 a young woman by the name of Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in Queen's, New York, right outside her apartment building. It was reported that 38 people heard and or saw her screaming for help as she was killed.

Why didn't anyone help? One of the many theories was the bystander effect, that is, each person thinking someone else would take responsibility to act.

From this incident the Neighborhood Crime Watch program was instituted across America. Bullying is a crime. Is your neighborhood bully free?

Take a step right now to keep neighborhoods free of bullying by completing this anonymous survey.
Click here to take survey

What to do if there is bullying in your neighborhood.

1. Document everything you can, even video it.
2. If the bullies are children, then try to create conversation with the children's or teen's parents.
3. If the bullies are adults, ask it to stop. Believe it or not, many bullying situations involve adults, parents of children, as these adults bully other adults and teach their children how to bully.
4. Call the police if needed as bullying can turn into a hate crime.
5. Ask for help from other neighbors.
6. Contact us for presentations, mediation and conflict management

Pertinent questions every neighborhood should be able to answer:

• Have we clearly defined the bullying behaviors we do not tolerate?
• Is there consensus amongst the neighborhood about being a bully-free zone?
• If not, how do we create consensus?
• What resources are available to help us?
• Do we know how to handle bully situations?
• Where will our children go for assistance when they are being bullied?
• Have we trained our children to spot bullying?
• How can we make our children bully-proof?

Create awareness and understanding

Living bully free begins with awareness that leads to action.