Be THE Voice
Be THE Voice of Kindness, Compassion and Inclusion
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Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Over 3 million kids will be bullied this year. Kids as young as 11 years old will commit suicide, rather than endure another day of bullying. 90% of children do not like seeing someone bullied, yet less than 20% try to stop it. Where there is a bully, there is a bystander and research shows that 57% of bullying stops in less than 10 seconds when he/she intervenes on behalf of the victim. Traditional anti-bullying programs focus on the victim or bully. But, studies show that effective programs focus on the bystander. BTV empowers the student bystander to find his/her 'voice' when he/she witnesses bullying. Students are the key to changing the culture of bullying. Students want to help- they just don’t know how! The skills students learn through the BTV initiative empower them to make a difference in a safe & non-confrontational way. Our innovative approach directs students to bypass the bully and support the target and revolves around short weekly videos that feature celebrities, at
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Be THE Voice: Elementary Schools
Kids’ Declining Mental Health Is the ‘Crisis of Our Time,’ says Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, and that "we all have a role to play in supporting youth mental health and creating a world where young people thrive." We totally agree, which is why we’re so passionate about what we're doing at Be THE Voice(BTV)!
BTV revolves around a weekly video series that is narrated by students similar in age to the viewer. They share personal experiences regarding a variety of topics like bullying, feeling left out, anxiety, mental health, stereotypes – and include tips, or advice, as to how to respond when facing similar situations. 65% of people are visual learners, so our video format is highly effective in changing student mindset. We also provide a variety of fun networking activities that foster new friendships as students work together to meet monthly goals. Our dual-pronged approach challenges reactive instincts that can lead to conflict & instead promotes empathy and inclusion!
Be THE Voice: Middle Schools
Kids’ Declining Mental Health Is the ‘Crisis of Our Time,’ says Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, and that "we all have a role to play in supporting youth mental health and creating a world where young people thrive." We totally agree, which is why we’re so passionate about what we're doing at Be THE Voice(BTV)!
BTV revolves around a weekly video series that is narrated by students similar in age to the viewer. They share personal experiences regarding a variety of topics like bullying, feeling left out, anxiety, mental health, stereotypes, ethnicity – and include tips, or advice, as to how to respond when facing similar situations. 65% of people are visual learners, so our video format is highly effective in changing student mindset. We also provide a variety of fun networking activities that foster new friendships as students work together to meet monthly goals. Our dual-pronged approach challenges reactive instincts that can lead to conflict & instead promotes empathy & inclusion!
Be THE Voice: High Schools
Kids’ Declining Mental Health Is the ‘Crisis of Our Time,’ says Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, and that "we all have a role to play in supporting youth mental health and creating a world where young people thrive." We totally agree, which is why we’re so passionate about what we're doing at Be THE Voice(BTV)!
BTV revolves around a weekly video series that is narrated by students similar in age to the viewer. They share personal experiences regarding a variety of topics like bullying, feeling left out, anxiety, mental health, stereotypes, ethnicity – and include tips, or advice, as to how to respond when facing similar situations. 65% of people are visual learners, so our video format is highly effective in changing student mindset. We also provide a variety of fun networking activities that foster new friendships as students work together to meet monthly goals. Our dual-pronged approach challenges reactive instincts that can lead to conflict & instead promotes empathy & inclusion!
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of reintroduced populations
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This number represents number of schools in all levels that participated in BTV programming. School populations can range from 200-900 students.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
School children experience the plague of bullying everyday--as victims and as bystanders. Bullying detracts from education and demoralizes students, teachers and families to say nothing of the suffering of the victims. Be THE Voice (BTV) targets the bystanders to create 'upstanders' who can defuse bullying among their peers, and foster civility and inclusion in their school environments. Since its inception in 2014, BTV programs in local schools have been hailed by school principals, teachers and students for their positive impact on students and school environments. The benefits ripple across the entire community and students carry the BTV message and skills into their college and adult lives.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
BTV offers a unique, video-based, peer-led bystander empowerment program. It begins with a kit that contains t-shirts, stickers, bracelets, posters, sponsor banners, award certificates, and most importantly, 12 original videos with accompanying weekly discussion guides that students use to tailor their campaign to their school.
In September, each school chooses or creates its student panel to implement the BTV campaign, while we identify the volunteer liaison who will support the students at each school. The students kick-off their 12-week campaign using the kit materials to raise awareness, to get students excited, and to create lasting visual reminders around the school.
As the campaign wraps up, each school selects 10-15 fellow students for Very Important Voice (VIV) awards recognizing students who exemplified kindness, compassion and inclusion. The VIV awards are one of the most telling indicators of the success of BTV. Community sponsors and volunteers are invited to attend the VIV Awards to hear for themselves the students’ poignant stories of their personal experiences as ‘upstanders’, which poignantly reflect the transformational power of the BTV campaign.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Be THE Voice was born over lunch at the Roswell Rotary Club in 2016 as Rotarians Debbie Cwalina and Mike Schoppenhorst explored their shared passion for combating bullying in community schools. Roswell Rotary has been the incubator of BTV ever since. Debbie and Mike’s vision of confident, informed student upstanders who would stand against bullying caught fire among the Roswell Rotary and individual Rotarians stepped up to help the fledgling organization. Jeff Scroggin provided pro bono legal assistance to secure the IRS 501c3 nonprofit status. Gordon Owens offered his technology and web skills. Five Club Presidents have supported Be THE Voice: Lou Tabickman, Jim Coyle, Jeff McCoy, Lisa Carlisle and now Becky Stone. Adele Hamilton, Becky Stone and Katha Stuart joined the original Board of Directors. The current Board includes Roswell Rotarians: Donna Smythe (President), Lou Tabickman (Treasurer), Michael Schoppenhorst (Secretary), Adele Hamilton, Rebecca Stone, Lori Allen, Lori Kirn, and Steven Palmer.
Our volunteer school liaisons are integral to the success of school campaigns. Wonderful community volunteers work alongside each partner school’s student-led clubs to ensure that the 12-week program is implemented effectively.
Rotary Interact Clubs have provided natural channels into local elementary, middle and high schools. BTV is student-led and tailored by students to each school’s unique environment. Interact Clubs have provided crucial student leadership in many of the early BTV participating schools. The strength of BTV lies in its student-to-student model, which is an ideal opportunity for Interact Club members to exercise true leadership and to model ‘service above self’ among their peers.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Approximately 25,000 elementary, middle and high school students will be impacted in 2019. We continued through COVID and many schools came back and continue to come back to the program. Fulton County Schools continues to implement a large portion of schools each year.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Be THE Voice
Board of directorsas of 11/07/2023
Ms Diane Jacobi
Mrs. Adele Hamilton
HP
Term: 2021 - 2023
Adele Hamilton
Hewlett Packard
Michael Schoppenhorst
Trade Show Production
Jayme Small
Restaurant Associates
Bob Clarkson
Century 21
Ryan Williams
Artisan Design Studio
Mary Robichaux
Kindra Smith
Riverwood Charter International High School
Diane Jacobi
Atlanta Public School Governance Liaison
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
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Sexual orientation
Disability
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Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/07/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.