In response to the ongoing bullying issues that permeate schoolyards, Cartoon Network is launching a multi-platform Bullying Prevention campaign aimed at supporting, educating and empowering the bystander in bullying situations, a role that represents roughly 85% of kids in US schools today.

The network’s social responsibility team has put together a blue-ribbon Cartoon Network Bullying Prevention Advisory Board, which will help in the creation of an original on-air and online program that will launch in early October. Cartoon Network is also launching a new series of PSAs that will premiere on October 1, directing viewers to online resources at www.CartoonNetwork.com.

The online curriculum was created in partnership with US Health Resources and Services Administration’s Stop Bullying Now! campaign and will allow kids and parents to learn response actions to a variety of possible bystander circumstances. The material will include tactics bystanders can use to interrupt and address bullying, techniques for turning passive bystanders into active bystanders, further information about the impact bystander behaviors can have in bullying situations and suggestions for what kids can do proactively to help stop bullying from happening in the first place.

CNN, sister station to Cartoon Network within Turner Broadcasting System, will also present a series of editorial features on bullying to provide better understanding and response options for victims, bystanders and adults.