The Saint Joseph Mount Sterling Foundation received $171,000 in funding to establish two new anti-bullying programs in Montgomery County Schools. The grants come from CommonSpirit Health’s Mission and the Ministry Violence Prevention Fund and will fund the program for three years.
Officials with Green Dot and Sources of Strength said their programming teaches students how to safely intervene when they witness or hear about cases of bullying, sexual assault, suicide, and other situations where violence may occur.
Sherri Craig is the Market Vice President of External Relations for St. Joseph Health. Craig said the program involves a day of training for teachers to become familiar with the cultural change that will occur in the school. Once they understand the program, Craig said the next step is identifying student leaders.
“Not just those that have academic excellence or those on athletic programs, but students just in their own circles are considered to be leaders who have an interest in this program, and then from there we will have those students as the early adopters,” said Craig.
Craig said studies show that victims of school bullying are at greater risk of physical and mental problems later in life. The St. Joseph VP said when looking at health outcomes within a certain population, 20% are tied to the traditional delivery of health care services, but the other 80% are affected by the social determinants of health.
“That includes the type of environment you live in, whether it’s a violent community or not, and whether you have access to food, where you live, whether you have safe housing. All sorts of other standards that affect your health. So in a small way, we believe through these anti-violence programs that we’re going to be able to improve the health and wellbeing of our young people,” said Craig.
Both programs are set to begin in Montgomery County schools in early November.