Copyright Notice
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Dear Readers,
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As individuals, the more powerful and respectful we can be  in our relationships, the more we can act as forces for good in our lives. This is why Kidpower is dedicated to bringing "People Safety" education to as many children, teens, and adults as possible, including those with special needs. Our vision is to work together to create cultures of caring, respect, and safety for everyone - and to achieve that vision, we have been seeking ways in which Kidpower can become a much stronger force for good throughout the world.
Recently, thanks to the the Special Hope Foundation, five of us from Kidpower had the opportunity to participate in a workshop led by Heather McLeod Grant, the co-author of Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits. The authors spent four years surveying thousands of nonprofits, conducting hundreds of interviews, and studying twelve high-impact nonprofits in depth to uncover their secrets to success.
What the authors discovered surprised them - because the answers were not about low overhead or flashy marketing. The six practices they identified confirmed that Kidpower is on the right path to becoming an even more effective catalyst for lasting social change.
The authors found that organizations need to invest in infrastructure in order to increase their capacity for impacting the field, not just their own organization. They also found that high-impact organizations establish meaningful structures for involving their constituents.
With this in mind, we are establishing ways for people everywhere to help Kidpower to share our resources far more widely. We invite you to become a member of our Alumni Association, which is open to anyone who has benefited from our services, including through subscribing to this e-newsletter. We also hope you will join our Kidpower Support Network and contribute to Kidpower in ways that work for you to make "People Safety" tools much more widely accessible, especially to children and teens in need.
With appreciation to each of you for your commitment to "People Safety" for yourself and your loved ones,
Irene van der Zande
Kidpower Executive Director/Founder
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Addressing Cultural Issues in Teaching "People Safety"
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 In every culture where I have taught "People Safety" skills, including my own, sooner or later someone always says, "But in OUR culture, things are different." And, of course, this person is right! In EACH culture, many things are different. At Kidpower, we use the term "People Safety" to mean people being emotionally and physically safe with people, including themselves.
The reality is that human bodies are much more the same than they are different. After a career of over forty years in which I have worked with thousands of people from a wonderful variety of cultures, I have come to believe that the essentials of "People Safety" are like breathing - important to the well-being of a human being regardless of culture.
Here are some lessons I have learned about creating cultural competency to address potential issues in teaching people how to advocate for and protect the emotional and physical well-being of themselves and others. The purpose is always to build a mutually trusting and respectful relationship with the people from the cultures you want to serve in order to create an effective learning environment.
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Read more online
View printable version [PDF]
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"People Safety" Issues and Skills for Seniors
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During a Seniorpower workshop led by our Montreal Center Director Marylaine Leger, a man came abruptly into the room and sat down. The elderly women and men in her workshop clearly knew this man from their Senior Center and became very quiet. The man started disrupting her class by making inappropriate and rude comments.  Marylaine calmly told the man that he needed to participate supportively or leave. When he kept being disruptive, Marylaine started to walk towards the man. Very politely but with complete conviction, she said that it was time for him to leave the room.
The man left, grumbling about how unfair it was, and Marylaine turned back to her awestruck students. They kept saying what an amazing demonstration it was of how personal safety skills could really work, even if you are not physically as big or emotionally as loud as someone. They were especially impressed with how Marylaine was able to be very strong and forceful without being rude or aggressive. Marylaine's Seniorpower students had been putting up with this man's aggressive behavior for years, as had the staff at the Senior Center. Learning how to set effective boundaries has made a big difference in the quality of their daily lives. |
Kidpower Safety Comics for Adults with Younger Children
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This newly published edition has a color cover, extensive black-and-white cartoons, and includes:
- Directions for adults on how to introduce personal safety to children ages 3 to 10.
- Social stories to discuss with children.
- Basic "People Safety" skills for protecting emotional and physical well-being.
- Solutions to potential problems such as bullying and stranger safety.
 The tools in this comic book are most appropriate for parents, teachers, and other caregivers introducing "People Safety" to children ages 3 to 10 who are usually with adults who can help them. However, the skills are important for people of any age - adults too! Older children often learn by reading and practicing with younger children.
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Special Kidpower Workshop
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Parent-Child Workshop with Kick Pads on Sunday, January 11th from 10:30-1:30pm in Aptos, CA
 Once a year, as part of our international instructor training program, we provide a unique workshop opportunity for children ages 6 to 11 and their adults. Under the leadership of our most senior instructors, people in training practice teaching with "real students" with in-the-moment coaching. The result is that students get excellent training with a great deal of individual opportunity to practice.
As one mother explains, "I travel for a couple of hours each way to Santa Cruz almost every year in order bring my family to this program. It's fun to meet people from so many different places and I have found that my children learn a tremendous amount when they get to see adults learning. They like the idea that they are helping to prepare these adults to teach Kidpower in order to reach a lot more kids. In addition, I have easy access to very experienced people who can answer my questions."
This January, our instructor training program will include people from Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Lebanon, as well as California, Illinois, New York, and Florida. You can join us on Sunday, January 11th for a three-hour Parent-Child Kidpower Workshop that will include physical self-defense skills taught with kick pads. (Note: This is NOT the full-force program with the head-to-toe padded instructor, which we also provide at other times.)
Thanks to community support, we can offer this workshop on a sliding scale fee of $25 to $75 dollars per child, based on ability to pay. As many support adults from each child's life as possible are encouraged to attend at no extra charge. We have found that the more that families have a common language around personal safety issues, the safer everyone is.
Download a registration form [PDF]
Register via email
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Kidpower Featured on Talk Show Bullying Segment
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The San Francisco ABC TV show "View From The Bay" welcomed Kidpower Executive  Director Irene van der Zande for a short interview about bullying. The show was live, and this five-minute spot is quite entertaining!
CLICK HERE to get to the site and click "Play" to see the segment.
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California Workshop Schedule
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Our current public schedule is updated monthly and includes a variety of workshops for children, teens and adults in Berkeley, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Petaluma, the Santa Cruz area,
and Santa Rosa.
Most of our services are not on the public schedule because they are organized privately by individuals, schools and organizations. We are happy to provide support to help you to organize programs for the important people in your life.
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WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT!
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 MANY THANKS to our hundreds of donors and volunteers. Your generosity is making a big difference in our ability to help others.
MANY
THANKS to the Corporate, Foundation, Service Club, and Government
Partners of our Central Office: Albany Lions, Allstate Foundation,
Applied Materials, Atkinson Foundation, Bank of the West, Bay Federal Savings, Bayer
Foundation, Big Sky Creative, Blue Shield of California Foundation,
California Casualty, California Endowment, Canadian International Development Agency, Castro
Valley Rotary, Center for Spiritual Living, Citigroup Foundation, Cisco Systems Foundation, Santa Cruz Commission for the Prevention of Violence
Against Women, Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, Community Printers of Santa Cruz, David and
Lucile Packard Foundation, The Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation, DeAnza Lions, Deluxe Corporation Foundation,
Driscoll's Charitable Fund, East Bay Community Foundation, Ecolab,
Ephraim Foundation, Finish Line Youth Foundation,the June and Julian Foss Foundation, Freedom Rotary, Fremont Bank, Gayle's Bakery and
Rosticerria, Giant Steps Foundation, Google, the Health Trust, Hitachi America, Ltd., Hitachi
Data Systems, Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., Hitachi
Foundation, Insurance Industry Charitable
Foundation, In-N-Out Burger Foundation, JM Long Foundation, Kaiser Permanente,
Jean and Ed Kelly Foundation, Lowell Berry Foundation, Lucile Packard
Foundation for Children's Health, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Mechanics Bank,
Mervyn's, Office Depot Foundation, Omega Nu, Palo Alto Community Fund, Pantheon, Peninsula Community Foundation, Plantronics, Porter
Sesnon Foundation, Arnie Kamrin of PPi Technologies Global, Radio
Shack, Rite Aid Foundation, Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation, Russell
Investment Group, Safeway, San Lorenzo Valley Rotary, San Francisco Foundation,
Santa Cruz Medical Clinic, Scotts Valley Lions, Scotts Valley Rotary,
Seagate, Sharpdots.com, Silicon Valley Community
Foundation, SmithMicro, Sonora Area Foundation, Staples
Foundation for Learning, Special Hope Foundation, Target Stores, Tides Foundation, Tuolumne
County First 5 Commission, TRIO Foundation, Union Bank of California, Union City Lions,
Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation, Verizon, Vodafone, Wal-Mart, Waste
Management, Wells Fargo Foundation, West Marine, Western Digital, and the Y. & H.
Soda Foundation.
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