NCBI Goes Back to School

Fall brings the excitement of a new season, new routines, and new experiences. Most notably, this energy can be felt in the hallways and classrooms of Montana schools. One of the three pillars of NCBI’s work in Montana is youth development. Spotlighting the work that NCBI does with youth and schools in Missoula and throughout Montana is the perfect way to honor fall traditions.

Respect Club recruitment is under way at Washington, Meadow Hill, and C.S. Porter middle schools. In partnership with the Flagship program, NCBI is celebrating our fifth year of Respect Club, a year round after school program developing strong youth leaders for diversity. Students will be encouraged to develop listening skills; express emotions positively; identify and address stereotypes and oppression; understand the causes and cycle of violence; and learn to use listening skills to change prejudicial attitudes, defuse conflicts, and prevent violence. Respect Club will kick–off with a half day Preventing Violence workshop October 5th, bringing together 15 leaders from each District 1 Middle School.

NCBI continues work in Missoula high schools. This fall Big Sky High School is partnering with NCBI to build an in-house team of youth and adult leaders who will provide prejudice reduction and violence prevention training to all incoming freshman. We will have our first full day workshop with interested students and staff September 27th and will be welcoming 10 students and 10 staff members to the Training of Trainers in October. This is an incredible example of a school taking action to build a safer and more inclusive environment for its students!

NCBI understands that students alone cannot build a safe and inclusive school environment – the school staff play a critical role. As the lead training organization of the Montana Safe Schools Coalition, NCBI is reaching the far corners of the state, providing training to teachers, school counselors, school staff, and concerned adults on strategies to reduce peer-to-peer antigay bullying, harassment, and violence. We recently led a “Making Montana School Safer” workshop for the statewide PTA conference in Billings, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The work to end antigay bullying and harassment in Montana schools begins with a concentrated effort on the behalf of concerned adults and teachers and that commitment was evident with the parent leaders who were in attendance.

With funding from the Pride Foundation, the Montana Fund for Tolerance, and the Funding Exchange, we have been able to keep the training costs accessible to schools across the state. The Montana Safe Schools Coalition includes nine statewide organizations, each working throughout the state to bring “Making Montana Schools Safer” trainings to schools in their area.

In all NCBI’s Youth Development efforts, NCBI aims to create environments where young people can learn and thrive, can learn and teach, can be leaders and allies in building more inclusive school communities.