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About
the Coalition and New Jersey
Anti-Bullying Organizational History
New
Jersey Coalition was stated in 2000, (post-Columbine) when there
were no existing statewide coalitions or non-profit organizations
concerned with bullying and New Jersey had not yet held a statewide
conference specifically addressing bullying. (Two conferences
have subsequently been held, one of them the kick-off for New Jersey
Cares About Bullying in March, 2003; the other, which I proposed and
which featured Dan Olweus, was organized and hosted by the New
Jersey State Bar Foundation in October, 2003.)
Since
the New Jersey Coalition was stated, two other statewide initiatives
arose. One of these was New Jersey Cares About Bullying, a
project of the state's office of Bias Crime and Community
Relations. The Project Coordinator was Randy Ross (she has moved from NJ, as of 2/05, to a position as a regional - New England states - consultant for bullying and bias-crime matters based at Brown University).
The
other was a revival of an earlier inter-organizational process,
called Safe Schools, which had been started by Michael Greene when
he was director of the Violence Institute of New Jersey but is now
led by ACLU and GLSEN (contact information for Dr. Michael Greene, and for ACLU and GLSEN, is on the Contact
Page). Both ACLU and GLSEN played important roles in
helping Barbara Buono obtain passage of the New Jersey anti-bullying
law and in ensuring, properly, that the law's language included
specific reference to gender identity and expression.
All
efforts to address bullying are very much welcome and needed, of
course. On September 17, 2003, a meeting of organizations from
all three initiatives was held at Overlook Hospital in Summit.
One goal of this meeting was to create a single statewide network of
non-profit organizations (and ultimately individuals) concerned
about bullying. Possible name included New Jersey Bullying
Awareness and Prevention, Stop Bullying Now New Jersey or a
different name. Progress toward that goal will be noted here.
On
March 30, 2004, the first meeting of the "network" for
bullying awareness and prevention was held at the New Jersey Law
Center. Network participation is meant to reflect a higher
level of commitment, specifically willingness of the organization's
representatives to commit time and effort on an ongoing basis to
advance specific bullying-related projects. At this level,
approximately twenty organizations (many from the existing
Coalition, but new organizations as well), participated with others
unable to make this particular meeting but expressing an intent to
participate (as of the next meeting, in most cases.)
See the Coalition Updates page for current information about the Coalition and its work.
For
more information, or participation, contact: Click here to email Stuart
Green, MSW, MA, or call (908) 522 2581.
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