Page 8 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2022 AG Healey highlights trainings at Mass. schools during Sandy Hook Promises Say Something Week I n recognition of students nationwide participating in Say Something Week, an initiative led by the national nonprofi t organization Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Offi ce, Attorney General Maura Healey is highlighting schools across Massachusetts that have had training to recognize the warning signs of those who might be at risk of harming themselves or others, and how to get help. Say Something is a violence-prevention program from SHP that teaches students the warning signs of potential violence and self-harm and to tell a trusted adult. The research-informed program has been proven to have prevented multiple school shootings, hundreds of youth suicides and countless acts of violence. Through the $1 million federal STOP School Violence Act grant, the Attorney General’s Office brought the Say Something program to middle and high schools across the state. To date, more than 45,000 students have received the training, and 100 schools have participated, with the participation rates to increase as the program continues. “Alongside key partners like Sandy Hook Promise and with the resources from our STOP School Violence Act grant, we’ve worked over the past four years to help Massachusetts students learn and grow in environments without violence,” said Healey. “The mental health training, suicide prevention, and schoolbased violence prevention programs made possible by the grant continue to teach our students about eff ective strategies to promote mental health and prevent violence in our schools and communities.” Students across Massachusetts are participating in Say Something Week, a national call-toaction campaign during which students create fun and exciting school-wide activities that reinforce the warning signs and celebrate student “upstanders” who look out for one another to keep schools safe. “Sandy Hook Promise has been honored to work with Attorney General Maura Healey and her team to bring these life-saving programs to middle and high school students across the state,” said Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund Cofounder/CEO Mark Barden, the father of Daniel, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. “Students are often the fi rst ones to see the warning signs or outright threats of violence, especially through social media. By empowering Massachusetts students with knowledge of the warning signs and how to speak up when seeing them, young lives are being saved every day, and students are getting the help they need.” Since 2018 the Massachusetts STOP School Violence Prevention and Mental Health Training grant has supported SHP trainings and events at more than 200 schools throughout the state. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Offi ce was awarded funding for this program through the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance’s School Violence Prevention and Mental Health Training Program, which provides funding to implement training and education on preventing violence and eff ectively responding to related mental health crises. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please call one of the 24-hour crisis hotline numbers below right away: • National Suicide Prevention MEETING | FROM Page 1 there will be repercussions if they speak out. Several times Human Rights Commission Chair Janine Grillo Marra tried to steer the conversation back to the topic on the agenda, which was a forum with new commission Director Dr. Maritsa Barros about areas of success and areas in need of improvement for human rights in the city. Castiello said she is of Italian descent and was among those who were personally off ended when the city replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. “I’m not looking for Italian Heritage Month,” she said. “I’m just looking to grow up in the city in which I grew up and for it to be normal, if you will. I welcome with open arms anyone coming into our community; however, being a long-time, tax paying citizen, I’m not looking for special treatment, and there are too many getting special treatment and think this commission is helping that along the way.” Several times, Castiello questioned the need for the commission, and also said the commission violated its own mission when, she said, a member called her “garbage” following the Dec. 3 meeting. Grillo Marra noted several times that while she thought Everett Aluminum 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Owned & operated by the Conti Years! “Same name, phone number & address for over half a century. We must be doing something right!” f www.everettaluminum.com Lifeline (NSPL): 1-800-273-8255. NSPL is available 24/7 via phone and chat and has a dial prompt for the Veterans Crisis Line as well as a Spanish line. • Trevor Lifeline for LGBTQ Youth: 1-866-488-7386 | text 678-678. Services are available 24/7/365, nationwide, and are 100 percent free and confi dential. Options to text or chat online are also available. Castiello was getting off track, that she thought it was a more even-tempered and less disruptive discussion than in December. Several commission members also thanked Castiello for bringing up her concerns. When Castiello returned to the microphone to once again state that she doesn’t believe the city needs the commission, Barros noted that she was at the meeting with a handful of people waving signs calling to abolish the commission. “Let’s make this very clear: The Human Rights Commission has been voted in by your city residents, and your City Council,” Barros said. “We are here to stay; let me just put that out there, point blank, period. I need to see more residents than six folks in here, because when you go into Revere High School and you see a Black Lives Matter banner with a fi st hanging and that makes you feel uncomfortable, I want you to think about the people represented by that image – that traditionally and historically we have not.” A second resident came to the podium to speak out against Black Lives Matter – and following ongoing comments and conversation with a member of the audience trying to address the commission while not at the podium – Grillo Marra ruled the meeting out of order and suspended it. Spring is Here!
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