SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kidpower, a global leader in personal safety education for children, including bullying prevention, child abuse prevention, and stranger awareness, today kicked off its “One Million Safer Kids” campaign. The goal is simple: to make one million children safer as a result of education, awareness and skills.
Executive director Irene van der Zande founded Kidpower in 1989 after she protected a group of children, including her own, from a man threatening to kidnap them. Since then, Kidpower has taught skills to more than two million people worldwide, and now aims to boost that number through this new initiative.
The One Million Safer Kids Campaign is happening in classrooms, parks, playgrounds, and living rooms around the world. Kidpower staff, board members, and volunteers are coming together with parents, educators, and community leaders to take simple steps to create access to age-appropriate safety skills and information that help prevent children from being abducted, abused, threatened or bullied.
“No one is in a better position than you to make the kids in your home, neighborhood, or community part of One Million Safer Kids,” said van der Zande. “A world with One Million Safer Kids is a better world for all of us. It is a world with more joyful playgrounds, classrooms, and neighborhoods. It is a world with more relationships strengthened by strong boundary setting skills. It’s a world with less trauma and injury. It is a world where children feel safer because they are empowered. The potential ripple effect of One Million Safer Kids is both staggering and achievable.”
By teaching one child one skill, sharing one article with one parent, arranging one workshop for one scout troop, or giving one donation to bring skills to a child in need, one adult makes a lifetime of difference to the young people made safer as a result.
What Can YOU Do to Help Create a World with One Million Safer Kids?
- Teach a child a skill. It only takes a few minutes and knowing what to do could spare a child misery or even save a child's life!
- Share information with someone who can use it to keep a child safer. The Kidpower Safety Tips can be posted on school and youth group websites The Kidpower Virtual Library has 100+ free articles. Share them with a parent, a teacher, an educator, a coach, etc. These are easy to access from: http://www.kidpower.org/millionsafer/resources
- Learn more, then show others what you learned. Subscribe to the Kidpower e-newsletter, read an article or one of Kidpower’s books, or take a personal safety workshop for yourself. Through all our efforts, we will educate One Million Safer Kids.
Every child deserves to grow up feeling safe and valued. To join the One Million Safer Kids campaign, visit www.kidpower.org/onemillion safer and sign up in the “Count me in” box. When you sign on to Kidpower’s One Million Safer Kids campaign, you will receive a Tools to Live By mini-poster featuring Kidpower core principles, available for immediate download. And, you will receive ideas about ways to teach safety skills, success stories, and new resources.
About Kidpower
Kidpower Teenpower Fullpower International is an educational nonprofit organization founded in Santa Cruz, California in 1989. Kidpower’s mission is to teach people of all ages and abilities, especially children in need, to use their power to stay safe, act wisely, and believe in themselves. Experts highly recommend the Kidpower method for being positive, practical, and relevant for children, teenagers, and adults from many different cultures.