Thats npclive. Now its time to introduce our head table guests. Id ask that each of you stand briefly as your name is announced. Please hold your applause until i have finished introducing the entire table. From your right, dylan brown, a reporter from E E Publishing; gene tighe, director of bbn technologies, and a Longtime National park volunteer; maria recio, a correspondent from mcclatchy newspapers; will shafroth, president and ceo of the National Park foundation; elizabeth bumiller, Washington Bureau chief of the new york times; the honorable john warner, former secretary of the navy and United States senator from the commonwealth of virginia. [applause] thank you, senator. Ferdous alfaruque, medical device reporter for medtech insight and a press club board member. Skipping over our speaker for just a minute, rod kurkro, reporter at E E Publishing and the press Club Speakers Committee member who organized todays event. Thank you, rod. Tom crosson, the chief of Public Affairs for the National Park service; del wilber, a reporter at the los angeles times; april slayton, assistant director for communications at the National Park service; and andy fisher, senior director of communications for the Pew Charitable trusts. Thank you all. [applause] forty years ago, our speaker put on the uniform of a National Park service seasonal interpretive arranger and went to work on the national mall. In that year, our nations bicentennial, the National Park service was a mere 60 years old. Later this month, the park service turns 100, and Jonathan Jarvis is still wearing the greenandgray uniform. He has the hat here hell put on a minute, i think. No longer a temporary, summertime employee, jarvis is the leader of 22,000 employees who interpret, protect and maintain the system of more than 400 National Park units across all 50 states, the District Of Columbia and most us territories. As the National Park Service Enters its second century, it faces multiple challenges, balancing the parks financial needs, even as Congress Cuts the 3 billion budget, while demanding the agency do more. A 12 billion maintenance backlog; cultivating a new generation of younger and more diverse park visitors and volunteers; adapting to the effects of Climate Change in parks, including the loss of glaciers, coastlines and wildlife habitats; addressing wellpublicized occurrences of Sexual Harassment at the grand canyon and other parks, dealing with the effects of energy, mining and other developments and the proximity to the parks. In his career, jarvis has worn just about every hat you can wear at the park service, even though every hat at the park Service Looks Like alike. Hes been a scientist, ranger, superintendent, regional director, and now director. Id also personally like to thank director jarvis who agreed last fall to come to my january inauguration and swear me in as the new press club president. Of course, that was before we knew about the pending snowzilla storm and the couple feet of snow that crippled washington. Still, director jarvis showed his grit in coming to the hastily movedup inaugural. Thankfully today, we have slightly better weather. This is the first time in the history of the National Press club the Park Service Director has addressed the club. Please welcome to the press club podium Jonathan Jarvis, as he tells us of his plans for the centennial year of the National Park service. [applause] well, welcome, everybody. Thank you, tommy. Its great to be back in a little warmer weather than the last time we were here. And thank you, rod, for organizing this as well. And senator, thank you for joining us this morning. As was mentioned, this year the National Park service will be 100 years old, and i will have served for 40 of those years. So i have a few opinions about the second century. Let me start with an excerpt from the atlantic magazine the president wanted all the freedom and solitude possible while in the park, so all newspaper men and other strangers were excluded. Even the secret service men and his physician and private secretaries were left at gardiner. He craved once more to be alone with nature. He was evidently hungry for the wild and the aboriginal, a hunger that seems to come upon him and drives him on his trips to the west. In the morning he had stated his wish to go alone into the wilderness. His security detail very naturally did not quite like that idea. No, said the president. Put me up a lunch, and let me go alone. I will surely come back. And back he came. It was about five oclock when he came briskly down the path from the east to the camp. It came out that he had tramped about 18 miles through a very rough country. He came back looking as fresh as when he started, and at night, sitting before the big camp fire, related his adventures. This is john burroughss account of traveling with president Teddy Roosevelt in yellowstone National Park in the spring of 1903. In 2013, almost 110 years later, i was hiking out of the same yellowstone wilderness with my son ben. We were descending an open forest on a rock stream slope when the ground began to shake. And over the hill right behind us charged a stampeding herd of bison. We jumped behind a large boulder and the giant, furry creatures thundered past, so close i could have run my fingers through their manes. As the director of the National Park service, i have the privilege to not only have some pretty wild experiences, but to sort of put them in context. And i think for a moment, if all of you think for the moment that this nation decided 100 years ago that such extraordinary places like yellowstone could be set aside for the enjoyment of future generations, that concept that you and i can have a similar experience that Teddy Roosevelt had over 100 years ago. In 1914, stephen mather, who was an independently wealthy Borax Mining Company director observed the deteriorating condition of the National Parks, and he wrote a letter to the secretary of the interior, franklin lane, complaining about that. And secretary lane responded, dear steve, if you dont like the way the parks are being run, come down to washington and run them yourself. Now, i would imagine such challenges have launched Many Political careers here in washington. So in order to support the establishment of the National Park service, mather knew that if he got the right people into these extraordinary landscapes, they would become converts. So on july 14, 1915, mather gathered what became known as the Mather Mountain Party and he led them for a twoweek trip into the high sierra. The party included writers for the saturday evening post, the Vice President of the southern pacific railroad, the ranking republican congressman on appropriations, president of the new york zoological society, and the publisher of the visalia newspaper. It had photographers, attorneys and businessmen, california state engineer and gilbert grosvenor, the director of the National Geographic society. There was one park ranger and two chinese cooks. Ty sing, the chinese cook, was considered the best camp cook in the west. And he proved that every day with dinners for these folks of soup, salad, fried chicken, venison and gravy, potatoes, apple pie and hot sourdough biscuits warmed on the side of a sweaty mule that was laboring up the area we know today as sequoia and kings canyon National Parks. For two weeks, this group tramped and camped in alpine meadows, plunged into cold streams and reveled under a starlit sky. Cunningly, mather let the mountains do their magic and the trapping of that busy society, even 100 years ago, sort of swept away and bonds were formed not only with each, but with the land. And each night around the fire, they talked about conservation and the future of the National Parks. In that final bonfire night, as told by one of the travelers, mather said, well, weve had many glorious days together. And i should confess why i wanted you to come. Not only for your interesting company, but to hope that youd see the significance of these mountains and the whole picture of what were trying to do. Hopefully you will take this message and spread it through the land in your own avenue and style. These valleys and heights of the Sierra Nevada are just one small part of the majesty of america. Although sequoia and yellowstone and glacier and crater lake were already set aside, just think of the vast areas that should be preserved for the future. Think of the grand canyon, not yet protected. Or the wonders of our territories in alaska and hawaii. He said, unless we can protect the areas currently held with a separate government agency, we may lose them to selfish interests. And that evening, every member of the party vowed to go back and provide their active support to the establishment of the National Park service. Gil grosvenor vowed that the National Geographic society would march in step. And he fulfilled that promise by publishing in april of 1916 an entire issue, the land of the best, as a tribute to america. The press coverage in that period was quite extraordinary, and it influenced congress when it came to a vote of the establishment of the National Park service on august 25, 2016, 100 years ago. This year, the National Geographic society devoted every issue in 2016 to some aspect of the parks, and on the 100th anniversary released their full issue, yellowstone battle for the west. And by the way, the Media Coverage for the nps centennial has been really unprecedented. I believe we are now over eight billion media impressions for this centennial. So thank you, all, for all the coverage weve gotten. We cannot take the future of conservation for granted. We must use the magic of our parks and public lands to inspire and empower a new generation of conservation and historic preservation. In many ways, this centennial year has been a national Mather Mountain Party by inviting every american to find their park, that place that personally inspires them, rejuvenates them and builds some patriotic pride. And without the least bit of modesty, our centennial goal has been to create the next generation of visitors, supporters and advocates for our National Parks and our public lands. If we dont, then in the words of my predecessor, director mather, we may lose them to selfish interests who call for our parks and public lands to be developed for short term private gain. So i want each of you for the moment to take a little bit of patriotic pride that our nation created this idea of National Parks, and today that system embodies our highest ideals, our most symbolic places and stands frankly as the best National Park system in the world. They also tell the american story through place, 412 worthwhile places of great inspiration like the statue of liberty or mount rushmore. Places of great beauty like yosemite or the grand tetons. Places of awe like the grand canyon and everglades. Places of social conscience like selma to montgomery, or the home of frederick douglass. Or places of great ecological restoration like returning water flows to the everglades, one of the most ambitious ecological restorations in american history. They are places of great history like fort mchenry, a National Historic site, where our star spangled banner yet waved and inspired Francis Scott key to pen the poem that will be played at every u. S. Gold medal in the olympics this year. Theyre also places of great Public Health. The father of landscape architecture, frederick law olmsted, after a visit to yosemite in 1865, said that if we pursue our business lives without the occasional contemplation of nature and parks, men and women would be prone to a class of disorders including softening of the brain, nervous excitability, monomania, moroseness, melancholy, and irascibility. With all the irascibility in washington, i am wondering if people here need a prescription for the parks. These are also places of social action, like the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where in 1939, just as hitler invaded europe, the extraordinary singer marian anderson, denied an inside venue because of her race, sang my country tis of thee to a crowd of thousands on the mall. And on those same steps, dr. Martin luther king delivered i have a dream speech in 1963, inspiring the Civil Rights Movement to carry on to the promised land. You can go to that spot today and stand in the very footsteps of dr. King. There are sections and sentiments of dr. Kings speech that really speak to different people in different ways. And i particularly find a connection with his closing, when he called for freedom to ring from every mountainside, and repeated the line from my country tis of thee, land where my fathers died, land of pilgrims pride. These lands, believe it or not, are National Parks and are public lands, like gettysburg, the freedom trail, the smokies or yosemite. These are parks and public lands that the bells of freedom are calling us to come and experience the healing, educational and transformative powers of nature and history. They are also ringing the bells of freedom and justice, respect truth and calling us to live up to the values of our nation. The National Park service is unlike any other federal agency. We serve not only as stewards of the nations greatest landscapes, but also as keepers of its cultural memory. And that recognizing that the american narrative is not one narrative but many means telling that story in its entirety. So when i became director in 2009 with the encouragement of many individuals in this administration, and from the outside as well, we recognized that there are gaps in the american narrative as told by the National Parks. And we must recommend to the president new designations to fill those gaps to realize the inclusiveness and equality that have been part of the american vision, if not always the reality, we needed to start from the beginning. One summer day in 1619, a ship appeared off what was known as port comfort and an english fort overlooking the chesapeake bay. That ship later became to be known as the african mayflower because it carried the first enslaved africans to the colonies. By the time of the civil war, Point Comfort had become the Union Stronghold known as fort monroe, the only union fort to stand through the civil war south of the masondixon line. In the middle of the night, three escaped slaves appeared at fort monroe looking for sanctuary. General Benjamin Butler was at the command, and when the southern slaveowners demanded the return of their property, butler refused, acting only on his own. Butlers reasoning was that the slaves were confederate contraband and could be confiscated by union troops. This became known as the contraband decision and president Abraham Lincoln traveled down to fort monroe, spent the evening with butler, probably over a brandy or two, and traded their legal views. Lincoln returned to d. C. Inspired with his own legal theory and penned the first draft of the emancipation proclamation. The three fort monroe fugitives were the first slaves freed in the civil wear, and many more would follow. And so, fort monroe bookends the beginning and the end of slavery in the United States. And on november 1, 2011, acting under the authority of the antiquities act, president obama designated fort monroe and made it part of the National Park system. During its struggle for independence, in a Colonial Courthouse in new castle, delaware, this nation set itself on a course unprecedented in the world. It was here that delaware ratified the constitution, the first state to do so, and asserted that, under the laws of this new nation we were creating, all people had inalienable rights. And in march of 2013, president obama designated First State National monument as part of the National Park system. Nearly 100 years after delaware ratified the constitution, we were still a long way from liberty and justice envisioned by the founding fathers. No one knew this better than Harriet Tubman, who for 12 years and at great personal risk repeatedly led fugitive slaves into secret places of the tidewater region and onto safety via the underground railroad. And in march of 2013, president obama designated Harriet Tubman National Monument. A generation later, Charles Young was a rarity at west point in the 1880s. He was only the third African American to attend the academy. He rose to colonel, but was denied the rank of general due to discrimination in the military. Nonetheless, his distinguished career took him from that famous calvary unit known as the Buffalo Soldiers to the philippine insurrection, to the pursuit of pancho villa, and ultimately to be buried at arlington cemetery. At one point, colonel young served as the superintendent of sequoia and kings canyon National Park. When the u. S. Army Buffalo Soldiers looked over our National Parks. And in march 25, 2013, president obama designated the colonel Charles Young National Monument as part of the National Park system. George pullman of chicago decided in 1862 on a new business model, to build and lease fancy train cars that could be coupled to the fleet of trains across the country as we entered the 20th century. Pullman staffed those cars with African Americans, especially the descendants of slaves, because he felt they would be the most subservient. He trained them, paid them a living wage, provided uniforms and a code of conduct. While still subject to racism, these men developed pride in their work as porters, emphasized education in their children, and seeded the growth of the black middle class. They were also organized by a young a. Philip randolph and were part of the Major Railroad workers strike that resulted in the creation of what we know today as labor day. A. Philip randolphs Organizational Skills would be applied to the Civil Rights Movement that swept the nation in the 50s and 60s, including the bravery of those at little rock nine. And on february 19, 2015, president obama designed pullman National Monument. Now, all of us know that the struggle for civil rights has not just been limited to African Americans, but to others who have been discriminated against because of the color of their skin, their religion or this sexual orientation. Seventyfive years ago next year, at the outset of world war ii, president franklin d. Roosevelt issued executive order 9066 ordering all residents of the western United States who were of japanese ethnicity to be rounded up by the military and imprisoned in confinement camps, hastily constructed. Given only a few days, over 120,000 people, most of whom were american citizens, were forced into trains, buses, and leaving behind homes, businesses and most of their worldly possessions. They were transported to remote locations like the owens valley of california, the Snake River Plain of idaho, and a buginfested gulch in hawaii, where they were imprisoned for three years. And on february 24, 2015, recognizing the tragedy of racial profiling and injustice during wartime and its relevance to today, president obama designated honouliuli National Monument as a part of the National Park system. From the social upheaval of the 1960s, along with dr. Martin luther king, jr. , another figure rose above others to carry the banner of civil rights. That was cesar chavez. Chavez fought for the exploited latino and Filipino Workers in Central California who had endured persistent racism and unsafe working conditions. On october 8, 2012, to immortalize this great mans sacrifice for farm workers, president obama designated cesar chavez National Monument. Here in washington, in a rambling historic home, a group of women led by alice paul and alva belmont determined that the liberty and opportunity granted to citizens of this nation should be applied to the other 50 of the population who were female. There, the National Womens party drafted and helped pass hundreds of pieces of legislation that changed the status of women in america. And in april of 2016, president obama designated the belmontpauls womens equality National Monument here in dc. And on june 28, 1969, at Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in new york city, events shaped the modern lgbtq Civil Rights Movement. It was at this site that new York City Police conducted a raid that had become routine at gay bars, and often resulted in harassment and arrests. Unlike previous raids, the corrals held their ground in demanding civil rights and refused to disperse. The protest expanded into neighboring streets and into nearby Christopher Park and grew as many as several thousand people, lasted for six days, and marked a significant turning point in the struggle for lgbtq rights. Within a few years, lgbtq people across the country had formed gay Rights Groups in almost every major city. And on june 24, 2016, president obama designed Stonewall Inn National Monument as part of the National Park system. These nine new National Monuments in the National Park system represent people who believed in the aspirations of our country and the places where they acted upon their faith, their spirit and their convictions. Their stories are now part of the National Park system, where they will inspire future generations, carry on the message that the blessings of liberty must be defended from all threats, whether they are external or from within. Our Centennial Mission in the National Park service amounts to a promise to america that we will keep not only its sacred places, but the memory of its most defining moments. A few months ago, i shared the dais with the poet laureate of the National Park service centennial, dr. Sonia sanchez. She reminded us all about truth. A quote, i cannot tell the truth about anything unless i confess being a student, growing and learning something new every day. The more i learn, the clearer my view of the world becomes. So i invite all of you here with the press and all of you out there in our country to come to the National Parks and gain a clearer view of the world. Thank you. [applause] thank you, director jarvis. We have a lot of questions. Thank you for not making us a National Park by the way. You talked about new designations. He talked a bit of the challenges of being a backlog. The first question is with all the added designations, the acres and hundreds of thousands of acres added to the portfolio, does that benefit the park service or does it become more of a challenge . The approach weve taken, let me clarify we are up 22 new units to National Parks system simply came unless the director. That is both through congress and the president ial act under the antiquities act. In most cases we have in almost every case we have minimized our footprint. The actual amount of land or resource we need to take care of, and we have brought in through particularly the work of a National Park foundation, Philanthropic Partners to assist with it. And have been frankly quite successful at raising funds. On one hand it does at to our overall responsibility but i think we have been very judicious and injuring it does not have significant to a maintenance backlog. How are you going to tackle the backlog . We have crumbling roads and bridges, teacher rating trails, outdated source systems. How are you going to talk about backlog . Let me characterize the backlog. We understand our maintenance backlog at sort of an excruciating level of detail. We really, really noticed down to the brick. So about half of our backlog is in what i would call the transportation site. So that the roads and bridges peace. That is not an easy thing to raise philanthropic money for that is something that is the responsibility of appropriators, anif we do this at the amount of funding out of the transportation bill and there is no a five year bill to address high priority roads and bridges in the National Park system. The other half which i call nontransportation assets, about half of that are what i call high priority assets, those that are correct rooted to i significant value, the Lincoln Memorial for instant. Nice little that you might consider a high priority assets of the parks service. In some cases of those we can raise philanthropic dollars for concert only you know weve had significant contributions from individuals like David Rubenstein to prepare those as well. We have a campaign with the National Park foundation to address many of those issues. We are also going to need a steady supply the federal appropriations and we have asked congress to respond to the. We have legislation before them to give us greater flexibility without existing revenues such as fees and generates a new revenues that we could address the maintenance backlog . Lets talk about the public partner, publicprivate partnerships in some form. How do we ensure that we dont end up with the exxon tramp and the disney whatever trail of some sort . With these partnerships how do you avoid the situation where congress may say youve got is private money for corporations, we dont need to do just much . Outlet was the first one. First of all, as a young woman here spoke to me earlier and talked about the rewrote industry, we have always had relationship with Corporate America. From the very beginning of the National Parks. It was the railroads that built most of the old historic lodges that you are familiar with. And to route my 40 years weve had longterm relationships with Corporate America without selling out, without renaming or the park brought to you by. We just dont do that. We sit down with Corporate America and say what are your goals . These articles. This is an area you can go and were not going to allow that. I think you should trust us that we are protecting these assets from branding and labeling. It is not the direction we are headed. We are trying to modernize our philanthropic capability both for the service, the National Park foundation, and all of the Friends Group to raise money for us. What if congress looks at that and says youre getting a lot of money for Corporate America, we dont need to give you as much . Weve always defined a line in the sand, a bright line between what philanthropic support is, whether its corporate or individual or foundation, and what is the responsibility of the federal taxpayer abuse appropriations process. We feel the basic operation of the National Park is our responsibility of appropriators, and that, and then philanthropies, it gives us that margin of excellence on top of that. They are not replaceable one over the other. What about user fees . Do you see a reason to raise entrance fees or fees like campgrounds or lodges, tour operators, to a window down that backlog . We have a fee program. We raise about 220 million a year in our program. We have the authority to retain all that money in the National Park service. A fee collecting park retains 80 , 20 is pulled for the nonfee parks. And we would never be able to in the National Parks on our fee program, first of all. We never want our fees to be so high that they exclude some component of the american public. The parks are for everyone, not just for the rich or the elite. That was the whole point of what we could a National Parks in this country. In europe where some of our ancestors came from, those places were just for the rich and not here in the u. S. We will always keep our fees low enough that they can be affordable. So you will not say whether well see an increase in the next couple of years . We already have. Let me back up. In 2009 i put a moratorium on fee increases. I retained that moratorium until 2015. So we froze peace at that current level in 2015 i allowed the National Parks across the system to consider and to go into Public Comment period for fee increases. We did allow some to increase but we will probably hold it there for a while. As you to implement a fee program you get pushback speaking we are live at the department of education for its bullying someone with panels of educators and researchers. This is just getting under way. And now have the distinct pleasure to introduce james cole junior, general counsel, elegant gifts of deputy secretary of education. James cole junior is delicate at the duty deputy secretary on january 28, 2016. It is the chief operating officer and chief legal officer and oversees a broad range of operational management, policy, Legal Program functions of the department. He also oversees the Department Work on president obamas my brothers keeper, task force which seeks to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and to ensure that all young people are able to reach their full potential. He was the first of his family to graduate from college. He credits the High School English teacher with inspiring and convincing to pursue higher education. In addition to his Mentor High School and College Students since graduating from Dunbar Vocational High School located on chicagos south side. Lets is welcome to the stage james cole junior. [applause] good morning, everyone. Welcome to the 2016 federal bullying prevention summit. Thank you for the very, very nice introduction. Im excited and im proud to say that thanks to you and our partners across the country and here in the federal government, bullying is on the decline. According to the most recent data from the National Center for education statistics, the prevalence of bullying among students age 1218, fell by six Percentage Points breaking a plateau that lasted for nearly a decade. Thats great news and were closer to eliminating bullying than ever before. Its so important that we do because bullying, repeated acts of aggression, meanness or files, that students use to benefit one another has absolute no place in our schools. And no student should ever have the fear of being harassed or hurt by one of their peers whether its at school, in their neighborhoods or if its online. I know that fear, what it can feel like. I grew up on the southside of chicago in a disadvantaged neighborhood where the schools were not as prepared to educate us and give us the opportunities we can. And i know what that feels like personally. By before i started high school i was robbed at gunpoint in my neighborhood. So i know what it feels like to be harassed and to be a victim of bullying. We all know that bullying doesnt always involve violence or involve again. In fact, these days often involves an iphone or social media. Bullying that mightve taken place in always come on streets are now happening online and can happen anywhere. Because of the relationships between children unfold in an evergrowing number of Online Platforms and apps like snapchat, instagram and a bunch of other ones. But stopping bullying isnt about the social media platform for its about how we decide to invest their status. Its about what kind of School Environment we create. Its about how we ask them to contribute each and every day. I also know that even though we are making remarkable progress, we still have a long way to go. We have a long way to go because there are far too many people with places committed to outdated ideas about what our values are as a society. For them even basic concepts like tolerance are simply far too much to ask. And for us, tolerance is not nearly enough. We need to create communities that celebrate difference if you want to make school a safer and more engaging and more equitable place for all students. Across this administration we are hard at work trying to make this vision a reality. President obama has been an ardent champion of School Safety and bullying prevention efforts throughout its entire two terms. He ran forced this committee yesterday by having members of the Education Policy Team host a summit meeting at the white house. The president also bring new urgency to the short because of the father of two young girls, he understands how important it is. He has challenged federal agencies like ours to step up and find new ways to reduce bullying. We have risen to the challenge. In terms of policy and program work here at the department of education, that has meant developing a uniform definition of bullying, publishing the indicated of school crime and safety that contains Critical Data on bullying and issuing guidance to prevent bullying of highly vulnerable populations, and issuing guidance that highlights schools legal obligation to respond to bullying and harassment. In addition to the steps im excited to announce that today along with our federal partners we are releasing the asianamerican and Pacific Islander bullying Prevention Task force report. This report calls out ways that those students have expressed bullying and what we can do to address these issues so that no student has the experience bullying at all. We do this work because none of our goals is to dispel the myth that bullying is simply a right of passage, something hits go through. We dont want to just get rid of outdated idea. We want to replace it with anyone, the idea that lifting up your peers instead of putting them down is what the real cool kids do. That means embracing a key role thats to display in this work and helping them understand all of our rights are bound up together, that my rights depend on yours, enjoy rights depend on mine. And argenta at the department is to set example for protecting all students civil rights. We try to do tha that for things like Dear Colleague letter that was released at the end of 2015 in response to troubling rise in negative incidents and rhetoric against members of the syrian, muslim, middle eastern or arab communities as well as of those that are sikh, jewish or students of color. We encourage creating a threatening environment in which all students are equally able to participate. Moreover, we know that students are affected not only by discrimination and experience in their own life, but also by what they see in the news and in the media. Students think you know that acts of bullying and bigotry have no place in american society. We are using the tools we have at our disposal at the department of education to make that a reality. Another one of those tools is a letter be published with the department of justice just a few months ago to assist School Districts addressing issues facing transgender students. This letter explains our federal law prohibiting sex this commission affects schools obligations toward transgender students. We also released a compilation of examples of ways schools across the country are already successfully supporting transgender students. Together, the documents show that equality for transgender students is not only required by law, but achievable through commonsense approaches that fosters safety in a positive learning environment for all students. This letter is one of the things i am most proud of in my time here at the department of education. Im proud of it because its as loud and clear that theres no place for bullies to dictate the rights of children. In places in North Carolina were lgbt discrimination is literally written into the law, we will do everything we can to protect the rights of students from bullying, from fear and from the offensive idea that some of lgbt students matter less than others. I know we will not see all of the change we want to see overnight. Change this big is a long and slow battle that many of you have been in for decades. But i know if we continue fighting for children and the rights to a great education, one that is safe from bullying, and if we continue setting an example of what it means to look out for one another and empower one another, then theres a limit to what we can help students and educators accomplish. So i want to thank all of you for being here today and for all the work that youve been in to prevent bullying including our federal partners in particular hhs and doj. The Obama Administration will do everything it can on each of the remaining 161 days left in this administration, and i couldnt be more excited about all the work that you will all continue to do in the many years to come at a federal, state and local bubble. Thank you very much for your commitment to this important matter. [applause] now have the honor and privilege to introduce one my colleagues, joe negron, acting administrator of the United States department of health and human services, Health Resources and Services Administration. Jim. [applause] good morning. Its great to be on a very hot day in washington, d. C. Its a little hot, isnt it, outside in terms of whats going on. Big thank you to james. They do so much and thank you for leadership in the department of education. You all would have taken in a credible the entrance of the antibullying effort in your leadership shines through so just think you can for all of your activities and work and work in partnership with us at hhs. I think its a great thing when we been able to come together as a set of federal agencies to work on reducing living prevention, or increasing bullying prevention. In particular for me its about not just increasing awareness that taking action. Thats whats the most important i think we have gotten past the stage where its just something were aware of. We are working to improve and to really make a difference. As weve seen the actual reduce the amount of bullying thats happening in this country. In addition i think this effort has been one where weve seen its not just an education issue. Its not just a Public Health issue. Its not just a justice issue. It is a collective punitive issue. We have to Work Together to make this happen. The stoppable. Gov efforts weve all done has been recognized as a National Standard for federal collaboration. We also know we cant do this a look at the federal level. We need state partners, local partners. Many folks like out in the audience like you, National Groups to help us continue to focus on whats most important thing in terms of making a real impact within our communities, in the state and nationally. I would also like to call it my colleagues at hhs, who have taken instrumental role in terms of all of their work, doctor beth, and the entire hhs team. All of our different colleagues, nih, they have really focused incredibly well in terms of this will effort. In terms of our agency we work a lot with local communities and states to access to health care preventive services, primary care. We work to build a Skilled Workforce and develop integrated programs. Its critical terms of our work that we look continue what is new, what is a we needed to focus on evidencebased practices in particular one of our key areas across the department has been on bullying. We recognize it impacts the health and well being of millions of youth across the nation. National estimates from the cdc and the department of education indicate about one in five kids are still bullied each year. We know some youth are disproportionately impacted by bullying come in particular children with special Health Care Needs or may of cognitive challenges such as autism as well as people in the lgbt community. Many of you so recently a study that came out of cdc has said about onethird of kids were lgbt are still being bullied in school. For significant issue. We also notice a significant issue for parents, educators, Health Care Providers, policy makers, families and everyone who works with youth. Having to go to that just recently graduated from high school, as well as my wife works in the Education Field at a high school, i sa so when they came e from school just the impact that bullying could have either on them personally or on their peers, and for my wife insurance of educators. It is not easy issues to do with but creating that atmosphere where bullying is not accepted, not tolerated and something would work to prevent collectively and set the example of pure excellence and support each other is essential. I can tell you how many times i would have a conversation with my daughter about i dont understand why this is going on a why is it happening. Wanteone of the big of this particular child with this particular group . Really looking for those tools and resources within the schools, within the community to make an impact she got involved in several communitywide and School Efforts to reduce bullying to because of the impact she saw on her fellow students. I know it firsthand from were i sit and soak in the work you all do the trick with an this make a tremendous impact. I also forgot of the work weve done at herself into the taken on bullying as a Public Health issue. I will tell you at first it was only seen as primarily an education issue. Of something you do with that schools. The team at hrsa, some colleagues of across the Department Said this is not just an education issue. This really is a Public Health issue that needs to be addressed. We need to about our Health Care Providers to look at that point you to come in for the annual physicals to ask the sort of questions that raised the issue. In particular worked with the schools in terms of how do you reduce bullying. We were very proud in early 2000 we launched the first the antibullying Prevention Campaign to really talk about this is a serious Public Health issue and it has a Significant Impact on health. In particular common back then it was not very easy to do. In fact, there were virtually no state laws or policies about bullying. As has been shared many times it was unfortunate seeing as a right of passage. But the good news is that that has changed over time. In the last decade we know everything the state has a law or policy about bullying in school. And the Research Behind impact of bullying is also strengthens our argument, that there is a Significant Impact it when bullying on both health and a short term and long term. In fact the National Academy of sciences recently reached a consensus study that recognize that bullying is a serious Public Health issue for people across the country. Research shows people who are bullied are more likely than appears to be depressed, anxious, lonely and to suffer from low selfesteem. They are also more likely to avoid school and have lower academic achievement, and theyre at risk for longerterm impacts them into adulthood, experiencing effects are even greater than physical violence and child maltreatment. Was even more interesting is that the emerging body of evidence issuing the bullying coming impact longterm brain development. In addition to this is something weve all learned in the last several years is that bullying is a just a negative impact on those who are bullied but also those who actually bullied. They are more likely to experience negative emotional, behavioral and Mental Health outcomes. We know that in terms of addressing this weve got to do this collectively with our classrooms, schools and communities, to talk both impact is and more important how we can move forward. In particular at hhs weve done a number of different activities that has helped us move beyond just simply understanding the issue, to get into action. Let me give you a few examples. At cdc that led the effort with the department of education and justice on developing a standard definition of bullying. Thats so critical to have consistent terminology and definitions because it helps us understand the surveillance and the prevalence of this particular effort and it helps us identify and target where the to focus our time and energy. It helps us get a true sense of the magnitude and impact of bullying. At the Substance Abuse and Mental Health administration theyre providing Grant Funding as state and local levels to support project the where that help improve the conditions for children and youth including supporting bullying prevention efforts. Sounds also supports special Suicide Prevention lifeline, 1800 273 talk. This is a network of independent Crisis Centers across the country that provide crisis intervention and Suicide Prevention services through phone and online chats. Including individuals were impacted by bullying. In addition after a Smartphone App called no bullying. This adds help parents, caregivers and educate with the tools they need to start a conversation with her children about bullying. Strategies about it to prevent bullying and explains how to recognize warning signs. That is extremely helpful. I know being a parent and not always exactly what to say but having the app be available to help my students, my children be able to recognize and work on bullying is critically important to samhsa has partner with a bully project, the beaumont children and that bullying initiative under own agency to explore the role that Health Care Providers can play in supporting youth who are bullied. This is a big area of emphasis and its one of the sections that will be going on later today. So very excited to hear about that. The National Institutes of health continues to invest in an active portfolio of research on bullying. Theyre encouraging applications through the Small Business Innovation Research program for the development and evaluation of series against the bullying with an interest in games that address cyberbullying. Our administration oversees the Family Violence prevention and services program. Many of their grantees are addressing bullying in the context of the Health Relationships and educating youth on the qualities such as respect, equality, trust and happiness. At hrsa we are working to build on Early Foundation to change conference at some of these best practices into policy and practice at the national and state and humidity level. One of the things were most proud of is weve identified bullying prevention is one of our National Performance measured for our block grant. In particular this is critical because it says that this one of the 15 measures that we as a political our states to focus on. And 17 states have accepted this and identify bullying as one of the top performance measures. We are going to be working with the states over the next so years to work on how they can reduce for the percentages that are bullied. As a key indicator for maternal and child health national. National. We are recognize the duchess is an issue of bullying but an issue of health. In particular one of the things that comes out of this is a we identify those states that are doing the best and we share that with others and it creates momentum for other states to take this on. When we talk to them about it was a little bit of hesitancy in terms of taking this on because he did know what all the tools and resources are. But as you see more states take this on, it becomes ever that you can make a bigger impact on. In addition we are working to educate our workforce, primary Care Workforce and our Community Health centers under rural health clinics, critical access hospitals about how they can do more about bullying prevention and in particular to provide them with evidencebased solutions. We have developed a whole training module thats been tried to over 1500 community leaders. Just a few much of a partner with cdc to transform the string resource into an online continuing education course. Nearly 2000 have participate in discourse and that number grows every day. In conclusion i just wanted to over the past decade we have recognized one thing for Certain Companies that bullying is not just an education problem. Its not just a Health Problem or a social justice problem. It is a Community Problem and that we all have a role to play. And that we can best serve youth and families by coming together with a common agenda. Thats why im so excited about todays session, because it includes many of you in this room who have been working on this effort. To be honest, sometimes not always working as closely together as we should, but todays session is focused on how do we build those crosscutting programs and ideas in terms of how do we make sure we can move this whole forward. We have done a lot in terms of our work but we know theres more to do. In particular the whole focus on social media is absolutely essential. Having two teenagers, they are on their phones all the time therandhaving the ability to imn bullying where they live and breathe is critically important. So all of the work weve been doing to extend our outreach around facebook and twitter, and in particular instagram has been absolutely incredible in terms of helping teenagers be able to face up to bullying and make an impact. I just want to encourage all of you to continue to work we here at hhs and the Health Resources and Services Administration are here to help you to support you, into more important your best ideas about how we can continue to work collaboratively together to make an impact. And so thank you very much for all of your support efforts in preventing bullying. Thank you. [applause] speak is my pleasure to go over to tr cynthia pappas. [applause] thank you, jim. I like to echo jims gratitude to chance, for your leadership on this issue and many others. To address the needs of youth who come in contact with the juvenile system or at risk of doing so. To protect those victims of abuse, violence and crimes. These are closely connected. In fact years of research has demonstrated that many of these youth who come in contact with the juvenile Justice System had been previously exposed to violence. We want to intervene early enough to protect children who we can identify as potential targets. We also know children who have been hurt often act out of that trauma and hurt or bully other children. We are working to help schools, judicial and other youth serving personnel across the country transform this system into one that is sensitive to trauma with system involved children and provide Trauma Informed Care options. We recognize that bullying and Cyber Bullying have an increased negative impact on our youth. We are happy to hear the decrease in the number. We are still seeing one in five reporting being bullied in the school year. Nearly 15 report being bullied online and 90 of those who report being cyber bullied also report being bullied offline. You all know the unfortunate nature, its harder for you to escape Cyber Bullying because it can happen any time, 247 and the messages can be posted anonymously making it difficult if not impossible to trace. They created the program back in 1998. Today the 61 coordinated taskforces represent more than 3500 federal, state and local lawenforcement and prosecutorial agencies. They have conducted thousands of internet safety publications to inform the public on preventing and intervening in Cyber Bullying, sexting and sex extortion. They have also promoted the net smart program. If youre not familiar, please become familiar this teaches Children Online safety and provide parents, teachers and lawenforcement with tips to help them protect their children, their students and youth in their community from Cyber Bullying. They initiate real conversations about these issues but i can attest to the effectiveness of net smart. I love the resources they have available. I get anti bullying presentation at my church, and my kids schools in Baltimore City and anyone who will let me talk with them. I will have this conversation. A little side note, part of what i do speaking across the country on various issues, i have never been more and terminated then walking into a 6 8 grade assembly. So for teachers out there, i have humble respect for what you do. You all know that bullying in all of its forms, physical, verbal and social can provide lasting harms for victim itches why the Justice Department continues to work alongside our federal partners to combat this issue. The Justice Department wants the defending Childhood Initiative in 2010 to address childrens exploited to violence both as victims and witnesses, and increase protective measures that can create safe school and socialclimates. They incorporate bullying prevention into their program. Some of you may have seen the changing minds Public Awareness campaign that they recently released at the National Forum on bullying prevention. We are developing this campaign as part of the defending Childhood Initiative in direct response to a recommendation that when out of the report of the attorney general National Task force on children exposed to violence which called for a national Public Awareness campaign to create fundamental changes in perspective in every organization, community and household. We are proud to say that campaign which consists of a Public Service announcement, website and resource material will launch next month