NCCEV Announcements

For immediate release: September 29, 2005

NATIONAL CENTER EXPERTS CONSULT IN NORTH CAROLINA

(New Haven, CT . . . September 29, 2005)

Dr. James Lewis, III, Chief of Operations for the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV) and Dr. Helen Wilson, NCCEV Pos-doctoral Psychology Fellow will provide consultation to the Safe Start Initiative site of Chatham County, NC, September 29th-October 1st, 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. Chatham County is one of the eleven communities funded through this initiative.

According to Dr. Lewis, “As part of our training and technical assistance to the Safe Start Initiative, we are providing guidance on the systemic changes that takes place throughout the Safe Start communities in responding to children’s exposure to violence. Chatham County is making significant progress in every aspect of its efforts to provide collaborative services to children and families affected by violence exposure.”

It is the pioneering work of the Child Development-Community Policing Program (CD-CP), a ground-breaking community collaboration among law enforcement, juvenile justice, domestic violence, medical and mental health professionals, school personnel and others, that led to the creation of the NCCEV by the White House and U.S. Department of Justice in 1999. The NCCEV and CD-CP Programs are under the direction of Dr. Steven Marans, Professor of Psychiatry and Child Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center.

The mission of the NCCEV is to increase the capacity of individuals and communities to reduce the incidence and impact of violence on children and families; to train and support the professionals who provide intervention and treatment to children and families affected by violence; and, to increase professional and public awareness of the effects of violence on children, families, communities and society.

For further information on the NCCEV or the CD-CP Program please contact Colleen Vadala at 203-785-7047 or colleen.vadala@yale.edu.