Internet Safety Presentation Program
SOLOS delivers interactive multimedia presentations designed to provide youth, parents, public and professional audiences with the information and tools to deal with online exploitation.  The main themes covered include: awareness of the dangers of online use; anonymity on the internet; permanency of images uploaded onto the internet; identity creation online; older youth as role models for younger students; promotion of open discussion of online use between adults and youth; safe use practices; and emerging trends in online youth culture.

Workshops targeted at youth serving professionals highlight the therapeutic implications of youth online activities. Presentations for parent advisory, and foster parent groups focus on internet literacy and safety information and youth presentations promote positive internet use, protective attitudes toward technology and critical thinking around sexual choices. During 2006, SOLOS held over fifty presentations reaching 3500 participants.

Cyber Bullying Presentation
SOLOS recognizes that the number of individuals affected annually by cyberbullying far surpasses those affected by exploitation on the Internet and is thus an important area for increased education.  As youth are facing bullying in the digital world (including via email, IM, or text messaging), SOLOS has developed an innovative youth presentation based on education and awareness in this area.  Themes covered include:

Youth-2-Youth Program
The Youth-2-youth Program engages high school teens to become experts in Internet education and safety by providing them with the skills and resources to teach Internet safety presentations to elementary school children.  SOLOS staff meets with teens and works together to provide a one to two hour lesson plan; materials to facilitate the workshop; a discussion guide; report templates; and cds.  Once trained, teens then travel and present in local elementary classroom and delivering an age-appropriate Internet safety presentation and resources to children. 

Following this 'teen-led' workshop with younger kids, youth are requested to complete a 500-word report about their experience on the workshops they delivered to complete the assignment and submit it to SOLOS for signing and to their Career and Personal Planning teachers for consideration toward their volunteer hour requirement for graduation from high school.

The focus on peer education which is the foundation of this project, is based on the belief that youth speaking to children is more effective and has more impact than training delivered by adults. This program supports a cascading model of information dissemination. Older youth are empowered to be leaders for younger youth, and acknowledged as a valuable resource regarding online activities. Older youth internalize the key Internet safety messages through the process of teaching them. Younger youth benefit from having older youth provide internet safety information as well as role-model responsible Internet use for them.  The program also acknowledges teens as having online skills, which in most cases are better than elementary teachers.

Publication Program
This program produces and distributes Internet safety information, organizational assessment tools and online resources on the topic of online safety, issues and strategies. In addition, SOLOS also provides an online networking environment that links service providers from all across British Columbia.

Publication and distribution of resources:

• SOLOS has published a youth Internet safety booklet entitled Teen Life Online: A Youth Guide to Cyber-Life as You Know It (2004-2006) and a CD entitled You, & the Web (2004) both of which we distribute at our presentations and through our website;
• A curriculum for professionals, “Introduction to Online Sexual Exploitation: Curriculum” (2003);
• “Organizational Assessment Material” (2004), a tool for non-profit organizations to assess their internal online policies;
• Within the past year, our materials have reached 136 agencies including school districts, community policing offices, research centers and community based crime prevention organizations.
• Maintenance of the SOLOS website (www.safeonlineoutreach.com) encourages networking activities, and both on and offline discussion about the issues of sexual exploitation.
• The SOLOS website also has links to educational and health based websites for youth, and displays current academic literature on the subject of Internet safety. 

SOLOS also has experience coordinating training events and evaluating feedback from professionals. In 2005, we delivered 13 ‘Roadshows’ to communities throughout B.C. including; Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers, Prince George, Victoria, Courtney and Langley. The Vancouver Foundation, the National Crime Prevention Centre (Community Mobilization Program), VanCity, TELUS and the McCreary Youth Foundation funded these events.

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