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Reporter: Justin Schecker

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - No parent wants a bully to victimize his or her child, but what can be done to prevent it?

With greater awareness of bullying in schools, local groups such as the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding have launched anti-bullying campaigns. 

As part of its End of Bullying initiative, students had the chance to produce anti-bullying PSAs. 

Barbara Stansbury's third grade class from Ventana Vista Elementary School stood up against bullying in a PSA that the Fund for Civility recognized last year.  

Stansbury told Nine On Your Side the PSA was the culmination of a year of teaching anti-bullying strategies in her classroom. 

"Our whole work last year of looking at bullying and how we can make a difference impacts their behavior tremendously," Stansbury said about her students.

Formed by Congressman Ron Barber after the Jan. 8 shootings, the Fund for Civility strives to make a positive difference in the community. 

Nine On Your Side asked Executive Director Jennie Grabel why the organization is tackling the issue of bullying. She said that the Barber family discussed the issue in the hospital after the shootings.

"They talked about issues they felt like may have been connected to what happened, but also just that they felt like the community could really use some support on, so bullying just rose to the top," Grabel said. 

The focus is often on the bully or the bullied. The theme of this year's PSA competition is empowering the bystanders. 

Even if they don't directly intervene, Grabel says they play a key role in stomping out bullying.   

"There are so many ways that bystanders can be empowered," Grabel said. "Your role may be just to go let an adult know what's going on, share the story with somebody else."

Stansbury tells Nine On Your Side that students need to feel empowered at a young age to speak out against bullying. 

"They were the messengers for how to end bullying and that is going to sit with them for the rest of their lives," Grabel said.

In the Vail Unified School District, it is a community-wide effort to stomp out bullying. 

In every corner of every school building, you'll find a sign with the "ACT Statement." It reads, "In the Vail schools we are respectful and trustworthy -- care about each other -- take responsibility."

Assistant Superintendent John Carruth said anti-bullying efforts start with teaching students from a young age how to form relationships. 

"In essence, makes it clear for everyone what our expected behavior is," he said, "how we treat each other."

A Vail community group introduced the ACT Statement in the late 1990s. 

"And it was in response to some of the zero tolerance language that was coming out and there was some pressure to how were we going to respond -- what were we going to do," Carruth told Nine On Your Side.

Instead of just zero tolerance in schools, Carruth said adults in the community need to serve as role models for the students.      

"We can have the best policies in the world," he said. "But if you and I are on campus and we aren't acting appropriately and we are modeling negative behavior, that's what's noticed, that's what our students pick up on."

A Nine On Your Side viewer suggested on our Facebook page that Vail's approach has eliminated bullying. 

"What I hope that we have done -- and what I hope that we continue to do -- is pay attention to (the) process we have in place, a system in place so we can reduce those incidents of bullying to really small manageable groups," Carruth said.