NCCEV Press Releases

For immediate release: March 18, 2003

CD-CP Program in Mecklenburg County, NC Wins State Award

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, NC -- The Child Development-Community Policing Partners in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina has been named among the top county programs in the state for 2002 by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, and will receive an Outstanding County Program Award. Mecklenburg CD-CP was selected for superior innovation and collaborative efforts in the Human Services category. The CD-CP collaboration that began in New Haven as a partnership between the New Haven Department of Police Service and the Yale Child Study Center has since evolved into a strong collaborative model replicated in over a dozen communities across the country in urban, suburban and rural settings.

“Mecklenburg County Child Development-Community Policing Partners” program, created in 1996, is a collaborative effort involving Area Mental Health (AMH), Department of Social Services (DSS) and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD). The program seeks to reduce the impact of violence and trauma on children and provide thorough assessment, treatment, and referral for services to children and families in need.

The local program began service in one of 12 police districts and has expanded to four over the last six years. The primary goals include early identification and intervention for children and families exposed to violence based on 24/7 service provision, and capacity-building among police officers to address the needs of children who have been abused, neglected and exposed to violence. They also plan to establish working relationships among police officers, mental health clinicians and social workers involved with at-risk children and families, resulting in improved service coordination.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, recognizes CD-CP as a best practice model and has designated Yale as the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV). The Charlotte CD-CP is the only program in the state that follows the national model created at the Yale Child Study Center, and local staff is on the faculty of NCCEV.

The clinic provides trauma response to children who are victims of violence 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are 13 CD-CP mental health-police partnerships nationally, though the Charlotte program is unique in two ways. The partners are multiple government agencies, rather than institutions, and DSS has been included as a partner to address issues of child abuse and neglect.

For more information, please contact:

National Center for Children Exposed to Violence
1-877- 49-NCCEV
Email: nccev@info.med.yale.edu
Or visit the program’s websites at www.nccev.org and www.cd-cp.org.