15 Feb Green Hills Area Education Agency was Recently Awarded a $500,000 Grant from US DOJ SVPP

Green Hills Area Education Agency (GHAEA) was recently awarded a $500,000 grant from U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP) to contract with Rachel’s Challenge (RC) to provide a research-based framework for training school personnel and students on preventing student violence, including anti-bullying training. The three-year program will involve 41 school districts serving elementary through high school students in 131 schools.

GHAEA proposes to contract with Rachel’s Challenge (RC) to train school personnel and students on preventing student violence against themselves and others, including anti-bullying training. The primary focus of the clubs are the five key kindness projects implemented through the course of the school year and classroom lessons. The five projects are designed to involve the entire school community and positively affect school culture and safety. RC provides the curriculum for lessons and project suggestions with adaptations for specific school environments and objectives. Examples include paper “chains of kindness” with handwritten positive messages, new student outreach campaigns, social media campaigns, and community outreach projects. These may be geographically specific such as support for Iowa flood victims.

According to the 2018 Iowa Youth Survey, 41% percent of GHAEA students reported being bullied and 8.6% reported they had a suicide plan. Reports of youth suicidal thoughts has increased by over 50% over the past six years (Iowa Youth Survey 2018). On average, GHAEA responds to at least one suicide within their schools each year. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth ages 10-14 (Iowa Department of Public Health, 2018). GHAEA data from the western Iowa cohort of the Boys Town National Hotline reported that although over 13,000 youth were reached through suicide prevention presentations in 2019, the agency fielded over 150,000 contacts; 30% of which were calls concerning suicidal ideation. Significant research has found a direct correlation between suicide attempts and bullying – both the bully and their victim are more likely to have suicidal ideation and follow through with the attempt (The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know and What it Means for Schools, CDC 2014).

GHAEA serves districts in 15 predominately rural, farming counties in southwestern Iowa, the majority of which have a population of under 15,000 residents making access to services difficult. GHAEA was created in 1974 to serve Iowa children from birth to age 21 and ensure equitable services for all children. The agency currently serves over 38,000 students in 43 districts and 139 schools. GHAEA has secured MOUs from eleven school districts, most of which will participate in year one of the program.