Province announces millions to combat bullying

The Ontario government has announced $4.6 million to help combat bullying in schools.

The funding is supporting the following community partners:

$1.485 million to Big Brothers and Big Sisters to provide a school-focused mentorship program for students in grades 1 to 12, with the goal of increasing school connectedness, and improving social-emotional skills, mental health and educational outcomes
$1 million to Roots of Empathy to offer classroom programs aimed at reducing aggression and enhancing social-emotional competence in children aged 5-13, to build skills that support student success, mental health and well-being
$800,000 to Kids Help Phone to provide prevention counselling and offer high-quality professional resources and crisis response
$436,500 to Egale Canada to support educators in facilitating learning opportunities to address cyberbullying, with particular emphasis on supporting students who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+
$250,000 to Child Development Institute to improve students’ emotion regulation, self-control, and problem-solving skills through the SNAP (Stop Now And Plan) program
$245,000 to Principal Association Projects to develop resources for parents and provide professional development opportunities for principals and vice-principals on responding to cyberbullying
$150,000 to Victim Services Toronto to increase youth safety, and in particular young women, within the context of online dating, healthy relationships, healthy masculinity and peer pressure
$100,000 to pflag Canada to improve the mental health and relationships of 2SLGBTQIA+ students and their parents by providing culturally responsive community supports
$78,000 to Victim Services Durham Region to host a Youth Symposium that educates students in Grades 7 to 9+ and educators on youth safety and violence prevention
$65,000 to George Hull Centre for Children and Families to deliver culturally relevant socio-emotional learning initiatives designed to help students enhance self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making