Contact: Tina Bradford Public Relations 610-248-3460 tina@tinabradfordpr.com

Dan LaBert, Executive Director The Bar Association of Lehigh County 610-433-6204  Ext. 15

“Tweens,” Educators, Elected Officials Across Lehigh Valley Learn Cyber-Safety with Oneface.me

LEHIGH VALLEY, PA –  ‘Tweens — kids ages 8 to 12 –  throughout the Lehigh Valley are getting an extra lesson regarding cyber-safety, etiquette, bullying, sexting and the law thanks to newly launched Oneface.me, a DVD and lesson plan distributed to 12,000 students, law enforcement officials and educators throughout the Lehigh Valley.

ONEFACE.me addresses the dangers of social networking sites (including the use of cellular devices) and provides social networking “etiquette advice.”

Oneface.me includes an online pledge and informative six-minute video with guests Attorney General Tom Corbett; Judge Kelly Banach, Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas; State Trooper Paul R. Iannace, Southeast Pennsylvania Bureau of Crime Investigations Computer Crime Unit; teacher, author John Annoni, founder of Camp Compass Academy. Cyber Legal expert attorney Avery Smith, a member of the Bar Association of Lehigh County is also featured.

Tweens are exploring virtual worlds, connecting through social networks and posting videos online. In short, they’re as adept online as their older brothers and sisters, and they face the same risks. A recent Tween Internet Safety Survey, sponsored by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, found that 90 percent of kids have used the Internet by age 9. More than a third of 11 and 12-year-olds have posted profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and more than 25 percent of tweens have been contacted online by a stranger.

In the Greater Lehigh Valley, there are over 12,000 middle school students. With growing use of social networking platforms, it is vital that we as a society reach out to this group and teach the dangers of social networking sites.  In a perfect world, we could ban our tweens from using these sites. However, banning them could backfire, they could resort to secret accounts or logging on at their friends houses.

The program has been made possible by a $20,000 grant from The Verizon Foundation in conjunction with The Bar Association of Lehigh County and Lehigh Valley Community Foundation.

For more information visit http://oneface.me/. Follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/onefacedotme. Follow on Facebook at http://bit.ly/onefacedotme.