FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 28, 2015
Media Contacts: Anne Collier 801.663.6629, anne@netfamilynews.org
Sarah Elliott 650.477.6585, sarah@sqcomms.com
GRANT FROM DIGITAL TRUST FOUNDATION TO LAUNCH
SOCIAL MEDIA HELPLINE FOR CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS
iCanHelpline.org, a joint-project of nonprofits #iCANHELP and Net Family News, is set to launch August 17
SAN JOSE, CA—Net Family News Inc. and #iCANHELP today announced that their California pilot iCanHelpline.org, a toll-free and email helpline for schools, is being awarded a grant of $175,000 by the Digital Trust Foundation. It was one of nine grants “to emerging and established leaders in the field” awarded this month for “research, education and support focused on understanding, preventing and responding to digital abuse,” the Foundation announced. Also this month, iCanHelpline successfully completed its crowd-funding campaign at Indigogo.com.
The helpline will launch August 17, to help school and district personnel with social media-related problems such as cyberbullying, sexting and reputation issues. It will be available from 9 am to 4 pm on school days throughout the 2015-’16 school year.
“Think of it as 411 plus 911 for social media help for the school community,” said Anne Collier, the helpline’s founder and president of Net Family News. “We aim to provide the social media part – expertise, perspective and help with getting content taken down that violates services’ rules – of schools’ response to incidents of anti-social behavior in digital media.”
“This adds on-call intervention to all the prevention education available to schools from the Internet safety field,” said Matt Soeth, co-creator of iCanHelpline and co-founder of #iCANHELP.
Beginning on August 17, the helpline will be available toll-free at (855) 997-0409 or via email at help[at]icanhelpline.org.
About us: Net Family News is a San Jose, Calif.-based national nonprofit organization founded in 1999 to educate the public and advise the Internet industry about research and developments in technology related to youth. #iCANHELP is a Bay Area-based national nonprofit organization that creates and promotes positive, school-based solutions & interventions to online harassment and bullying. To learn more, visit iCanHelpline.org.
To support this free service to schools, click here.
