Bullying Prevention Topic Call Summary
September 9th, 2025, 4:00 – 5:00 PM ET
Attendees:
- CSN: Lauren Gilman, Clare Grace Jones, Shannon Reynolds
- Massachusetts: L. Jane Ayers, Silvia Mendez
- Indiana: Sarah Iwinski-Wallace, Sophia Schadewald, Melanie Roberts
- CNMI: Maxine Pangelinan
- Kentucky: Christina Howard, Katie Green
- Vermont: Emily Fredette, Julia Sarrasin, Kana Zink, Marianna Donnally
Thank you for joining our topic call on September 9th! The updates that each of you shared reflect that you are all in different places on the “road to change” continuum, with collaboration and partnership as a common thread throughout everyone’s work.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month! Here are some resources that you can share with schools and communities that might want to participate in this “month long event to prevent childhood bullying and promote kindness....” When we meet again in November, it would be great to hear about any related activities or campaigns.
- Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center
- World Day of Bullying Prevention
- The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
- StopBullying.gov
State Updates:
Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) – Maxine and her team are working to align Change Ideas with MCH Block Grant priorities, formalizing partnerships with school systems and gathering baseline data.
Indiana - Team members have been asked to participate in a task force around bullying, suicide prevention, and online safety. They will be working closely with the Indiana Department of Education to compile statewide data about bullying, and their adolescent team will be using Title V to fund middle school BP programming in the Indianapolis area.
Kentucky – They have increased the number of local health departments implementing BP curriculum from 8 to 12 over the past year. They also created an infographic to be used statewide (and shared it with the CSLC BP team!)
Massachusetts – Jane and her team has been working with MORE Advertising to launch a BP campaign in October, which will run through December. They are upgrading website to make it more accessible to youth, and have created a poster that will be available to schools.
Vermont – The team has been doing multi-faceted and intentional relationship building, and has successfully connected with partners in the Agency of Education and Department of Health. They are in conversations across departments about bullying and school safety, and are now identified as a collaborative partner. Currently, they are thinking about spheres of influence, including working with school nurses.
Coming up Next:
- CSN Webinar: 9/29/25 2:00-3:00p ET - Multi-Tiered Approaches to Preventing Bullying and Suicide: Promoting Digital Wellness and Supporting Schools
- October STAW: 10/15/25 2:00-3:00p ET - From Small Tasks to Big Changes: Quality Improvement Tools You Can Use
- BP/SSHP (Optional) Open Office Hours – date in October TBD - stay tuned!
Many thanks to you all for sharing your ideas, resources, successes, and lessons learned with one another. Feel free to continue sharing using our BP topic team mailing list (bp_cslc@mailman.edc.org) or reaching out directly to one another. And, as always, TA is just a click away!