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Baltimore Safe Start
Baltimore, MD
Lead Agency: Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice
Co-Applicant: The Family League
of Baltimore City, Inc.
Safe Start Staff:
- Lillian Augustus, Safe Start Project Director, FLBC
- Deloris Vaughn, Project Evaluator, FLBC
- Michael Cenci, Cross-Agency Coordinator, FLBC
- Taj Carson, Director of Research, FLBC
- Andrea Anderson, Assistant Program Coordinator, FLBC
- Marie Austin, Training Coordinator, FLBC
Project Purpose:
The Baltimore City Safe Start Initiative (BCSSI) is a partnership of
numerous organizations and programs. The vision of BCSSI is of collaborative
groups working together to reduce the impact of exposure to violence,
enable children to reach their optimal potential, and enter school ready
to learn. The Baltimore City Safe Start Initiative, in collaboration with
community leaders, community organizations, parents, public and private
service providers, will design and implement strategies resulting in systems
changes that will reduce the harmful effects of exposure to violence on
Baltimore's youngest children. The BCSSI will achieve this purpose by
developing and implementing unified screening and assessment procedures,
integrating the BCSSI with the Family Support Strategy (Baltimore's existing
initiative focused on improved outcomes for children under six), expanding
mental health services for children under six, and building strong evaluation
and accountability processes.
The BCSSI will draw upon proven best practices, existing models and programs,
including the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, Baltimore Child Development/Community
Policing Program, Baltimore City Data Collaborative, Baltimore Mental
Health Systems and Comprehensive Strategy. BCSSI will focus on two of
Baltimore's more at risk communities - Park Heights and Southwestern Washington
Village/Pigtown.
Project Goals:
- Broad Community Awareness of the impact of child exposure to violence
- Early and consistent detection of young children exposed to violence
- Young children identified as impacted by exposure to violence receive
mental health services from a provider who is Safe Start trained in
their community
- Young children identified as impacted by exposure to violence have
improved access to appropriate community-based services
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