FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Julie Holmquist
952-838-9000, National toll-free 888-248-0822

Fourth annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week is Oct. 4 – 10, 2009

Uniting people, schools, and communities nationwide to prevent bullying

As part of PACER Center’s fourth annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week, Oct. 4 – 10, 2009, children, teens, adults, schools, and communities across the country are encouraged to partner with PACER to prevent bullying. The movement is being given a boost with the launch of PACERTeensAgainstBullying.org—a relevant, edgy Web site created by and for teens. In addition to videos, stories, blogs, and social networking, the site features a toolbox of things teens and schools can do to address bullying—from creating their own videos to performing role plays for younger students.

Every day, more than160,000 children nationwide stay home from school to avoid bullying. Up to one-third of the nation’s students are bullied during the academic year, and more than 60 percent witness bullying daily. The results of bullying can be devastating—or even tragic.

“Our mission is to engage, educate, and empower teens to care about bullying,” said Paula Goldberg, PACER’s executive director. “We encourage people nationwide to work together during National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week to increase awareness of the prevalence and impact of bullying on all children.”

In addition to visiting PACERTeensAgainstBullying.org for teens and PACERKidsAgainstBullying.org for elementary school children, people can help prevent bullying in several ways. Free activities to help reduce bullying in schools, recreational programs, and community groups, and materials such as contests, classroom toolkits, and more are available at PACER.org. Organizations and schools can partner with PACER by sending an e-mail to bullying411@PACER.org with the name of their school or organization, their Web site URL, and a note about what their school is doing to support bullying prevention. Partners are listed on PACER’s bullying prevention Web sites.

“It’s time to take action,” Goldberg said. “Teachers, parents, students, and adults throughout each community must work together to create a climate that doesn’t accept bullying. When bullying is addressed, communities will see more students with higher self-esteem, better school attendance, less physical and mental stress, and better school performance.”

The week is sponsored by PACER’s National Center for Bullying Prevention, which is for all children, including those with disabilities. It promotes national bullying awareness and teaches effective ways to respond to bullying.National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week is cosponsored by the American Federation for Teachers, National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, National Education Association, and School Social Work Association of America.

PACER Center is a national parent center located in Minneapolis, Minn. Serving all youth, with a special emphasis on children with disabilities, it provides publications, workshops, individualized assistance, and other resources to help families make decisions about education, vocational training, employment, and other services for their children. To learn more, visit PACER.org or call 952-838-9000; 800-53-PACER (Minnesota toll free); and 888-248-0822 (national toll free).

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Editor: This news release can be downloaded at PACER.org/bullying/bpaw/media/index.asp. Experts are available through PACER for media interviews on bullying prevention topics, such as:

• How can teens recognize and help prevent bullying?
• How can parents help their child who is being bullied?
• What can schools and organizations do to prevent bullying and increase awareness of the issue?
• How does bullying affect students and school culture?
• What role do bystanders play in preventing bullying and what are some methods to engage them?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug 6, 2009
Contact: Julie Holmquist, PACER communications
952-838-1344, julie.holmquist@pacer.org

Maria Pierson, Pierson Grant Public Relations
954-776-1999 EXT 222 mpierson@piersongrant.com

Demi Lovato Joins National Bullying Prevention Movement

Music sensation announces partnership to support PACER Center’s National Center for Bullying Prevention and TeensAgainstBullying.org

MINNEAPOLIS – Hollywood Records pop music sensation and Disney Channel star, Demi Lovato, today announced a partnership with PACER Center’s National Center for Bullying Prevention to help champion their anti-bullying movement.  With this announcement, Lovato, whose new album “Here We Go Again,” skyrocketed to the #1 position on the Billboard album charts one week ago, now has a platform for a cause she cares about deeply.

It might be hard to imagine that Demi Lovato was the target of bullying when she was younger, but she was and she now has joined forces with the Minneapolis-based PACER Center.  Lovato will support the non-profit national center by appearing on PACER’s soon-to-be-launched (August 8th) TeensAgainstBullying.org Web site.  TeensAgainstBullying.org is an innovative bullying prevention educational resource where teens themselves participate in the creative process of developing concepts, content, artwork and the voice for the site.

“We are so fortunate to have Demi join our Teens Against Bullying movement,” said Paula F. Goldberg, executive director and co-founder of PACER. “Our mission is to engage, educate and empower teens to care about the issue and Demi will certainly raise the level of awareness of the importance of bullying prevention.  Her personal experiences with bullying have made her passionate about educating others about this cause.”

PACER will also promote its relationship with Lovato through its Web site and a social networking campaign that looks to create more awareness for the cause during the 4th Annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week (October 4 to 10). During that week, PACER encourages schools and communities nationwide to work together to increase awareness of the prevalence and impact of bullying on all children. Families, students, schools, organizations and other groups can partner with PACER (at PACER.org) to prevent bullying in several ways. Activities and materials such as contests, toolkits and online bullying prevention training will be available at TeensAgainstBullying.org on August 8th and are already available online at KidsAgainstBullying.org (for elementary school kids).

According to a recent study by The National Association of School Psychologists and the U.S. Dept. of Justice, 160,000 kids of all ages stay home from school everyday to avoid the stress that comes from being confronted by a bully or bullies.

“Bullying is intentional, hurtful and often repetitive behavior forced on a child who does not knowingly provoke the bully. There is a clear imbalance of power either in the physical strength, social status or the intimidating behavior of the bully,” explains Goldberg.

Lovato hopes her involvement with PACER will help other teens. “Working together we can make a difference.  I hope that by sharing my story, it will encourage other teens to speak out,” Lovato said.  “No one deserves to be bullied."

“My mom and dad provided me with such a great support system and once I was away from the kids who were bullying me, I was able to get my confidence back and get back to acting,” she explained. “But not everyone has the great support system and outlets that I did, so I would like to help end bullying to make it easier for kids and teens in all situations.”

Bullying is not and should not ever be considered just part of growing up.  It does not make someone tougher and often has the opposite effect, lowering a child’s self-esteem and self-worth, creating fear and increasing anxiety. While some children have the confidence and skills to stop bullying when it happens, many do not, and children shouldn’t be expected to deal with bullying on their own.  Adults often are unaware of or don’t understand bullying partly because many children don't report it. Most studies find that only 25 to 50 percent of bullied children talk to an adult about it.

“Just as society does not expect targets of other types of abuse to deal with it on their own, we should not expect this from children and young adults who are targets of bullying,” added Goldberg.

For more information, visit PACER.org, TeensAgainstBullying.org, KidsAgainstBullying.org or call 952-838-9000.

About PACER

PACER’s Center’s Bullying Prevention Project is for all children, including children with disabilities. It promotes bullying awareness and teaches effective ways to respond to bullying. PACER Center primarily serves families of children and youth with disabilities. It provides resources such as publications, workshops, and individualized assistance and helps families make decisions about education, vocational training, employment, and other services for their child. Its primary Web site is PACER.org, its phone numbers are 952-838-9000; 800-53-PACER (MN toll free); and 888-248-0822 (national toll free).

About Disney Channel

Disney Channel is a 24-hour kid-driven, family inclusive television network that taps into the world of kids and families through original series and movies. Currently available on basic cable in over 97 million U.S. homes and to millions of other viewers on Disney Channels around the world, Disney Channel is part of the Disney-ABC Television Group.

About Hollywood Records

Disney Music Group encompasses all of Walt Disney Company's recorded music and music publishing operations including Hollywood Records, Walt Disney Records, Lyric Street Records, Carolwood Records, Buena Vista Concerts and Walt Disney Music Group.