For some children, this program has made the difference of no longer being teased at school for being African-American.
For others, it’s made it easier to do well in school without fear of seeming “uncool,” or able to get along with classmates who were once intimidating and mean.
No matter who the child is, what their background or struggles are, Bellevue’s CRU Institute, a non-profit organization, has been helping out in these sorts of ways since the late ’80s, working with schools to provide conflict resolution and peer mediation training in the Pacific Northwest, across the U.S. and abroad.
Recently, the institute was given $50,000 in grant monies from the California-based JAMS Foundation to create and distribute a DVD that will help carry out CRU’s mission, addressing issues of bullying, harassment, intolerance and improving cross-cultural awareness.
“We want this to be a catalyst to elicit discussion about these issues,” said CRU Executive Director Nancy Kaplan, who noted that her organization was in the beginning stages of speaking with filmmakers and designing the DVD. They plan to interview students who have been bullied, as well as the students who have done some bullying in the past.
“We want it to be a positive piece, not just a lot of complaints. This will help instruct school personnel on how to help facilitate discussions in the classroom,” Kaplan said.
The institute trains faculty, students and parents at elementary, middle and high schools.
“But really, anybody can learn these skills, even younger kids: kindergarten, first and second graders,” Kaplan said. “It’s really just about respecting other people and people who may be different from you.”
Despite their Bellevue location, Kaplan said the institute is not frequently hired by city’s district to help out in the local schools. Though they do currently have one training in place at Tillicum Middle School. She said she’s been surprised by lack of interest among district administrators, especially considering the racial (more than 30 percent of Bellevue residents are foreign-born) and socioeconomic diversity on the Eastside. Training to promote sensitivity and understanding of one another is sometimes helpful in locations with a lot of diversity.
It can be a challenge to get people to realize the benefit of what CRU teaches. But it’s so important, said Kaplan, who’s witnessed how effective children are as conflict-resolvers when they’re given some of the power and importance usually only reserved for adults.
“I’m an MSW, I’m a therapist,” she said. “Kids don’t want to be therapized. But if you tell them they’re going to be mediators and teach them these interpersonal skills, all of sudden, they become interested.”
