NCCEV Announcements

NCCEV to attend International Conference on Family Violence

For immediate release: September 21, 2005

Safe Start Initiative in San Diego, CA

(Washington, D.C. . . . September 21, 2005) Representatives from the Safe Start Initiative will be presenting on the importance of community collaborations in addressing the needs of children exposed to violence at the 10th International Conference on Family Violence in San Diego, CA at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center on Wednesday, September 21, 2005.

The Safe Start Initiative, a federal program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, provides funding for urban, rural and tribal communities to address problems faced by children from birth to six-years-old who are exposed to violence. The Safe Start Initiative will be represented at the conference by Kristen Kracke, the Safe Start Coordinator from the Child Protection Division of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention as the U.S. Department of Justice; James Lewis, III, Chief of Operations for the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence’s collaboration with the Safe Start Initiative at the Training and Technical Assistance Brokers/Providers; Alan Fox, the Safe Start Director from San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth and their Families; Judith Simpson, Safe Start Project Director from the Juvenile Welfare Board in Pinellas County, FL and Deborah Johnson the Safe Start Project Director from the Children’s Institute in Rochester, NY.

The purpose of the conference in San Diego is to provide a unique forum for people from all disciplines and philosophies to gather together to exchange information and discuss differences and similarities in what we do and how we do it. The conference covers all aspects of family violence prevention, intervention, and research in the areas of child maltreatment, teen abuse, judicial issues, sexual assault, law enforcement, treatment of offenders, intimate partner violence, elder abuse, and more.

Phase two of the Safe Start Initiative was just announced and is titled Safe Start Promising Approaches, a $6.2 million dollar U. S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs initiative developed to support children and families exposed to violence, including experiencing and witnessing violent crime, sexual and physical assault, child abuse, and domestic violence in 15 newly designated communities throughout the country.

For further information on the Safe Start Initiative please visit the Office of Juvenile Justice program’s website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov. You may also contact the NCCEV directly at (203) 785-7047 or 1-877-49-NCCEV (62238).