Mobilizing School Communities to Involve Bystanders in Reducing School Violence

The goal of this project is to pilot an innovative school violence prevention program called Voices Against Violence/Voces Contra La Violencia. This video-based program focuses on the critical, but often neglected, role youth and adult bystanders, including parents, can play in preventing school violence. As part of the Columbia Center for Youth Violence Prevention, Voices Against Violence/Voces Contra La Violencia has been implemented in multiple classrooms at a middle school in New York City. Strategies for involving parents as well as youth and school staff have been explored. The study aims to further understanding of the attitudes and behaviors of students and parents using new measures that, if reliable and valid, can be used in future research.