ADVENTURES IN RESPECT
Community Initiatives reflect our commitment to social responsibility. They represent sustained effort by our Y to raise funds and awareness to deal with important community concerns.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
IMPACT:
BULLYING PREVENTION
Adventures in Respect is our Y’s new anti-bullying initiative run in collaboration with area schools. The program is designed to address the increasing problem of bullying in and outside of school. The program takes a unique, interactive team-building and has received high praise from participants, educators and administrators. Since its inception, Adventures in Respect has engaged more than 20,000 middle school students, with 88.9% of participants reporting a better understanding of bullying and a deeper appreciation for respecting their peers and 95% rating an increase in their own personal acceptance of differences in classmates after participating in AIR.
“Adventures in Respect is great for our students because it helps them learn to respect and communicate with one another as well as build trust in themselves and their peers. It has definitely improved the culture within our school.”
THE COMMUNITY NEED: According to a recent MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey conducted by the Health and Human Development Division of the Education Development Center, there are indicators that bullying is on the rise in the MetroWest Region. Bullying victimization increased over a two-year period from 44% in 2006 to 49% in 2008, and bullying on school property increased from 39% to 43% over the same period.
Nearly half of all middle school youth have been victims of bullying, as 49% were bullied in the past 12 months, and 43% were bullied on school property. One in three youth report they have bullied others. An estimated 160,000 children in the U.S. miss school every day due to fear of being bullied.
OUR YMCA’S RESPONSE: Bullying among school age children is a prevalent and significant problem, which we are in a position to address. With the support of the Honey Dew Family Foundation we are able to impact thousands of children from across our 15-town service-area through the Hockomock Area YMCA’s Adventures in Respect program.
SUPPORT THE Y.
The Reach Out for Youth and Families Annual Campaign is the primary vehicle in subsidizing confidential scholarship assistance and subsidized programs such as Adventures in Respect.
ADVENTURES IN RESPECT
ADVENTURES IN RESPECT PROGRAM HISTORY: The Hockomock Area YMCA works in collaboration with area schools to deliver a variety of programs and services including a teambuilding program offered free to the students utilizing our high and low ropes challenge courses. We combined the existing goals of our ropes challenge course programs with the new anti-bullying legislation and collaborated with schools to develop anti-bullying plans. To date, over 85% of the more than 200 students who participated in the program reported a better understanding of bullying and a deeper appreciation for respecting their peers.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW: Adventures in Respect takes place over the course of one full day at the YMCA or on school grounds. The curriculum combines elements of the experiential learning model with current anti-bullying theory and research. The main goal of this initiative is to aid schools in creating a more positive, caring, and safe learning environment for all students at local middle schools. The strengths-based resiliency curriculum focuses on building and further developing the internal assets of positive values, social competencies, and positive identity development as core components.
PROGRAM RESULTS: Research along with our own experience shows that the majority of students are not directly involved in bullying situations, but are merely bystanders. Our approach is based on the theory that this majority can be transformed into a “caring community.” We believe that by creating an environment where students have increased empathy and caring for one another, students become more resilient and bullying behaviors are reduced.
SUPPORTING BULLYING PREVENTION PROGRAMS
In 2011 and 2012, the Honey Dew Family Foundation awarded the Hockomock Area YMCA $25,000 grants to help launch our anti-bullying initiative known as Adventures in Respect. This program discourages bullying and gives youth new resources to stand up to this societal epidemic. Working in collaboration with area schools, this team building program is free to students and lots of fun, utilizing the high and low ropes challenge courses in a summer camp syle experience at the Y. “What better organization to partner with than the Y,” says Trustee Jennifer Fellman.
The Honey Dew Family Foundation believes in partnerships, like the Hockomock Area YMCA, that impact local communities. “We’re all in this together,” says Dick Bowen, president of HoneyDew Donuts. “We believe in building character each and every day and we hope to help and give forward to as many people as we can.”
Our Adventures in Respect program depends on community support, including donations and volunteers.
