KIDPOWER

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KIDPOWER TEENPOWER FULLPOWER, International (also known as KIDPOWER) is a non-profit organization that teaches people of all ages and abilities safety, confidence, self-protection and advocacy skills. Educators, mental health professionals, and law enforcement agencies endorse the organization for its ability to provide participants with skills that help to prevent bullying, molestation, assaults and abductions.

1 History
2 Mission
3 Programs and Services
4 External links

[edit] History

The incident that inspired KIDPOWER occurred in 1985 in Santa Cruz, California when Irene van der Zande—Executive Director and co-Founder of KIDPOWER—protected 8 young children, including her 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, from a man who threatened to kidnap them. Irene van der Zande gathered experts in child development, education, mental health, rape crisis intervention, martial arts and law enforcement and established KIDPOWER International in 1989. Since its inception, the organization has taught over one million individuals at its centers and offices throughout the world.

[edit] Mission

KIDPOWER works in communities in the United States and around the world to offer a wide range of violence prevention and self esteem building workshops with people of all ages. The goal of the organization is to teach people of all ages, abilities, and walks of life to use their power to stay safe, act wisely, and believe in themselves in order to decrease incidents of violence and abuse.

KIDPOWER works off of five fundamental beliefs: 1) Feeling safe is a fundamental right, not a privilege. 2) Everyone can learn how to become safer and more confident. 3) Providing services to people of all ages, abilities, and walks of life, especially children and youth in need is of utmost importance. 4) Positive, experiential success-based learning is the key to helping people learn to keep themselves safe. 5) Integrity, excellence, and safety are the foundation of everything KIDPOWER does.

[edit] Programs and Services

KIDPOWER provides experiential, success-based programs that teach skills to participants that reduce incidents of bullying, violence and victimization. KIDPOWER has representatives in the United States, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Peru and Pakistan. Workshops include KIDPOWER for children as young as 3 years old; TEENPOWER for teenagers; FULLPOWER for adults; SENIORPOWER for elderly people; and adapted programs for individuals with disabilities.