Did you know that Rainier Beach Action Coalition is building the nation’s first community-wide PBIS program in Rainier Beach? 

Never heard of PBIS? It’s a way to address behavioral challenges at schools through a systems-change framework. Believe it or not, there’s more than 30,000 schools in the United States today that are using school-wide PBIS programs to help students succeed. Research has shown that when schools implement PBIS well, students’ mental health, grades, and graduation rates improve, while behavioral challenges and the need for school discipline declines. 

It’s compelling data that’s made criminologists around the country wonder if PBIS can be done not just school-wide, but community-wide as well, and if so, would the neighborhood become safer? Enter Rainier Beach Action Coalition. We’re working with criminologists from George Mason University to build the nation’s first community-wide PBIS program and to answer those very research questions. Read more about here at: www.rbactioncoalition.org/PBIS

So what have we done this year to build a community-wide PBIS program? Here’s a few highlights and photos from 2021.

In 2021, we…

  • Shared evidence-based strategies for creating safe, positive environments with 24 different organizations in Rainier Beach.
  • Helped paint a ‘Be safe, respectful & responsible’ mural in Be’er Sheva park and another one on the old Pho Van building that says ‘A beautiful safe place for youth’. 
  • Brought Rainier Beach community members together to network, share resources, and to talk about neighborhood challenges at monthly Rainier Beach United gatherings. 
  • Made a Rainier Beach coloring book that teaches positivity and passed out 800 copies of it to youth. 
  • Led a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) workshop and taught community members how to do everything from clean graffiti to dispose of abandoned phone booths (true story). 

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