by Rachel Hunkler

Community Matters and the Eradicate Hate Global Summit share the goal of empowering and engaging youth voices. We believe including young people in anti-hate and community safety efforts is critical to their success.

We know that young people’s actions can make a tremendous difference – sometimes the difference between life and death. Research on this topic indicates that approximately 80% of school shooters leak communications indicating their intentions prior to their attack.  Research also tells us that peers are more likely to receive these leaked communications and are, therefore, much better positioned to identify concerning behaviors.

That’s

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since the tragic mass shootings on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. I can vividly remember watching the horror on live television as students and staff were desperately climbing out of windows trying to get out of harm’s way any way they could.

From helping them understand their emotions to setting the right goals and showing empathy to others, as a parent, you want your child to be equipped with the necessary social and emotional skills through social-emotional learning (SEL). And to ensure that your child develops them, it's important to remember that learning always starts at home.

Dayspring Pens is proud to partner with Community Matters through a donation of 40 engraved pens. It is an honor to be able to donate to an organization that works so diligently to serve students and adults through the creation of safe, welcoming, and inclusive schools and communities

School safety should be intentional and can and should be created and supported by every individual in the school community. One of the most significant safety threats is from disaffected, rejected, and bullied students and former students. What schools believe and how they treat everyone is key.

SSA had a significant impact on my development in middle and high school back in my hometown, and I know that my fellow ambassadors and peers were affected in the same manner.

Mobile devices, online chat, gaming, and social media have all contributed to making private spaces more public. It is difficult to know who children are communicating with, when, and how in a world of computers, consoles, and smartphones. But online safety for children goes beyond digital stranger danger and cyber-bullying.

You sacrifice so much for the good of your students and the promise of a brighter future for them and this world. If that isn’t a hero, I don’t know what is.

Since March of 2020 when the term “Chinese Virus” was first mentioned by the most powerful man in the world, there has been an uptick in crime against the Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Attention wasn’t really drawn to this problem until six Asian women were killed in a mass shooting in Atlanta and an extremely brave elderly woman in San Francisco fought against her attacker and won. Then the protests and vigils and talks started. But why did it take so long to have the conversation?

Most of us have experienced being hijacked from our best self and we also know how to bring ourselves back into balance—to center. But it takes practice and skill to do it well. The good news is we are all resilient when we tap into the magic inside us.