SIOUX CITY, IA -
The Sioux City Project has been working to stop bullying since 2006, and now that effort has gained the world's attention.
But even though the program was recently named a finalist for an international award the fight to stop bullying in schools and communities around Siouxland is far from over.
"It's not just a school issue, it's not just a business issue," said Tim Stiles, President of the United Way of Siouxland, speaking on bullying. "It's a community-wide issue and we need to change the culture."
Stiles has been with the "Sioux City Project" from the beginning.
"This is really and truly more than just eliminating bullying in our schools, this is really and truly about bringing violence down so that we don't have the crime rates, we don't have the domestic violence rates, we don't have the murders," said Stiles.
The United Way of Siouxland and Sioux City Schools started helping out with the program when it was created by the Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention in 2006.
The project helped teach kids why bullying is wrong and how important it is that the behavior is stopped.
The Waitt Foundation was instrumental in Sioux City's involvement on the documentary film "Bully".
On May 3rd the "Sioux City Project" was picked as a finalist for the United Way's international Common Good Awards.
But even with that recognition, the work's far from over.
"Once you start to see that level of tolerance lowered for abuse and bullying, you start to see changes being made in policies that are implemented," said Stiles.
You're starting to see those changes in Sioux City's Schools with projects like the beSomebody initiative.
That initiative has kids learning and taking home lessons about bullying.
Since it, and other programs started, the school says more kids are stepping up and stopping the bad behavior.
"We've found out that they would now step in with their peers and say this isn't right, they would tell an adult that this is happening, they would be more likely to report it," said Alison Benson, Communication Director for the Sioux City Community School District.
A reminder that while the international recognition is welcome - bullying can only be solved right here at home.
The Sioux City Project found that from 2008 to 2011 some types of bullying, like name-calling and insulting, decreased in high school students by nearly 50%.
Interested in what else the project found?
You can find out here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByB9B9megnNMRkl2b2h5OXlUckdVWXZjS2xIVG9jQQ/edit?pli=1
