Telstra Foundation funding the fight against cyberbullying through Project Rockit

It’s back to school week (in NSW) and around the country kids are making their way back to class for the first time in 2017 – for many it’s an exciting time, for some though it might not be so.

Project Rockit is a passionate group of young people who conduct online and in-school workshops to educate school children about the issues of bullying and cyber-bullying.

Launched in 2006 by Melbourne sisters Lucy and Rosie Thomas the two could see bullying affecting their peers and decided to do something about it.  They’ve since delivered workshops to over 200,000 students in more than 500 schools across Australia.

Co-founder and Co-CEO Rosie Thomas said “We’ve poured all of our passion and experience into PROJECT ROCKIT Online. We were driven to take our successful youth-led approach and program to a digital platform after seeing the difference we were making at each school we visited,” Rosie said.

“Through PROJECT ROCKIT Online, we can now reach young people and schools all over Australia. This is especially important in regional and remote areas where we see higher rates of mental health issues, as well as bullying,” Rosie said.

“There’s no preaching, lecturing or judging – PROJECT ROCKIT celebrates technology, creates real talk about the tough issues and works with young people to come up with safe and cool strategies. This new program is about empowering everyone to act.”

Head of the Telstra Foundation Jackie Coates said Telstra was proud to partner with the team at Project Rockit “Telstra has long been a big fan of the impact PROJECT ROCKIT is having with their in-school workshops on cyberbullying. That’s why we provided a $400,000 social innovation grant to amplify their 10-years of experience and help take PROJECT ROCKIT online.”

Say what you want about the big T – this is the kind of investment you want to see Australia’s biggest companies making.