NW3C: Cyber Safe Schools

Welcome to Cyber Safe Schools
Protecting the digital generation is our mission. The Cyber Safe Schools program, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance through their STOP School Violence Program, is dedicated to educating and empowering youth to navigate the online world safely. We believe that with the right tools and knowledge, young people can protect themselves from the dangers that lurk in the digital space.

Our Mission
In today’s increasingly connected world, it’s more important than ever to equip young people with the skills to identify and prevent online violence. From cyberbullying to grooming, online solicitation, and extortion, the Cyber Safe Schools program is here to help students, parents, and communities stay safe.

What We Do
Our program targets middle school students with engaging and informative presentations delivered throughout the school year. Led by Youth Mentors—criminal justice professionals with expertise in online safety—the curriculum covers essential topics to help students recognize online threats and report concerns to trusted adults.

The Program Includes:

• Educational Modules: Four presentations spread across the school year, each lasting approximately one hour.
• Interactive Learning: Activities with real-world scenarios as well as practical advice for staying safe online.
• Handouts: Students will be provided with information they can take home to share with parents. Each handout contains a QR code survey that students are encouraged to complete.
• Community Engagement: After the school presentations, Youth Mentors will help students organize community events to spread awareness. Parents, guardians, and community members will be invited to participate and learn how they can help protect our youth.

Why We Do This Work
As reliance on technology grows, youth are at increased risk of being victimized online. Criminal perpetrators capitalize on the dependance that youth have developed for online accessibility and utilize many techniques to target child victims.
In 2022, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline received more than 32 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation. These reports consist of human trafficking, sexual solicitation, and images of child pornography. This was a significant increase from 2020 (over 21 million) and a slight increase from 2021 (over 29 million). In 2022, the category of online enticement saw an increase of 82% from 2021 to 2022, which includes a disconcerting spike in reports of financial sextortion. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children offers this three-minute overview of the challenge to combat sextortion here: https://youtu.be/RoilZ7AHb1U.

Cyberbullying is another significant online safety issues. One organization reports that approximately 37% of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have been bullied online, and that 30% have had it happen more than once. Moreover, only 1 in 10 teen victims will inform a parent or trusted adult of their abuse. Cyberbullying has significant consequences; the Pew Research Center found that tertiary costs, such as loss of productivity and health care expenses, may be nearly $2.4 billion each year.

Where We’re Starting
Our journey begins at two schools: Northeast Lauderdale Middle School in Meridian, Mississippi, and Washington Irving Middle School in Clarksburg, West Virginia. These schools will be the first to experience the Cyber Safe Schools program in action.

What’s Next?
After refining our materials as need, we will implement the program in up to five schools during the 2025-2026 school year. Do you know a school that might be interested in participating? Please reach out to us! After that, we will expand to more schools, aiming to reach as many students as possible. Eventually, our resources will be available online so any school or organization can use them to promote online safety and protect youth.

About Us
With support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, The National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) is developing the Cyber Safe Schools program to educate youth on identifying and preventing online violence. NW3C is creating presentations with activities and handouts that will be provided in two pilot schools during the 2024-2025 school year. The program will be implemented in up to five additional schools during the 2025-2026 school year.

The program will teach middle school students about topics like cyberbullying, online solicitation and extortion, grooming and other predatory behaviors, and online safety. After the presentations have been completed, Youth Mentors will work with students to coordinate community education events with support from NW3C. Parents, guardians, and others in the community will be invited to attend the events to learn about online violence and what they can do to help keep youth safe.

Join Us
Together, we can create safer digital spaces for our children. Stay informed, get involved, and help us spread the word. Your participation in our community education events is vital to making a difference.

Let’s build a safer future, one student at a time.

Contact the Program Manager for more information.

Disclaimer: This project was supported by cooperative agreement 2020-VT-BX-K001, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions contained herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific agencies, companies, products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by the author(s) or the U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues. The Internet references cited in this publication were valid as of the date of publication. Given that URLs and websites are in constant flux, neither the author(s) nor the Office for Victims of Crime can vouch for their current validity.