Did you know that 1 in 5 high school students report being bullied in school? According to the CDC, this is a staggering statistic that impacts countless lives. But there’s hope: research from stopbullying.gov shows that when bystanders step in, they can stop bullying within 10 seconds, 57% of the time. Unfortunately, many bystanders don’t take action, often because they don’t know how.

Why We Started the Right To Be You(th) Program

At Right To Be, our mission is to end harassment in all its forms. We believe that addressing bullying and harassment among young people is crucial to building a more empathetic and respectful world. This is why we launched the Right To Be You(th) program—to equip the next generation with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to safely intervene when they witness disrespect, harassment, or bullying.

The Right To Be You(th) program began as a response to the urgent need for practical tools in schools that can empower both students and educators to combat bullying. We collaborated with PK12 curriculum specialists to develop a comprehensive, 13-lesson curriculum based on our proven 5Ds of Bystander Intervention methodology: Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay, and Direct.

In 2023, we successfully piloted this curriculum in several classrooms at a high school in Brooklyn, NY, reaching about 100 students in grades 9 to 12. These students learned how to safely and effectively intervene in bullying situations, and the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. The pilot included a wide range of resources, such as assessments, group work, scenarios, videos, and guided discussions to ensure a well-rounded learning experience.

This year, we’re scaling up. Our goal is to bring the Right To Be You(th) curriculum to at least 50 schools and youth-serving groups across the U.S. and Canada, for students in grades 8-12. Alongside our established 5Ds training specifically for educators and our educational video series for ages three to adulthood, we’re committed to making a greater impact in more communities than ever before.
We envision a future where the 5Ds of Bystander Intervention become as well-known as “stop, drop, and roll” was for previous generations. By equipping young people with these tools, we aim to create more compassionate, understanding, and respectful school environments where harassment and bullying are no longer tolerated.

Get Involved

–If you’re a school or youth program interested in joining us on this journey, we’d love to connect with you. Click here to fill out our form and take the first step toward empowering your students with the skills they need to make a difference.

–We set up a scholarship fund to ensure every school can access this transformative program. This fund helps schools with limited resources bring the Right To Be YOU(th) curriculum to their students, so they can create safe and inclusive environments. Click here to donate.

Right To Be has also adapted the 5Ds of bystander intervention training for teachers K-12. Scholarship on bullying and violence in schools, indicates that when teachers model bystander intervention, students are significantly more likely to safely and effectively intervene when witnessing bullying.

This 60 minute interactive training will teach K-12 teachers, staff, and administrators the methodology behind our 5Ds of bystander intervention for their unique workplace – school settings. 

The training starts by talking about the types of disrespect that these school stakeholders are facing right now at school using a tool we call the “Spectrum of Disrespect.” You’ll learn what to look for and the positive impact that bystander intervention can have on individuals, schools, and communities, by using our 5Ds of Bystander Intervention methodology: distract, delegate, document, delay, and direct; and how to prioritize your own safety while intervening. We’ll have time at the end to practice school-based work scenarios with the 5Ds, and you’ll leave feeling more confident intervening the next time you see disrespect happening within the workplace of a school setting. 

Sign up for our next training here

Right To Be, AAJC and the Woori Show teamed up to create this interactive educational short video series for parents and kids to learn how kids can intervene if they witness racism or harassment.

Right To Be also partnered with AARP, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC to create a series of educational videos aimed at teaching people how to intervene if they see anti-Asian hate and harassment. Read our press release to learn more about this initiative.

Join Right To Be’s You(th) Program