Products -- Safe from the Start Newsletter Archives

SFTS January 2002 News

Tools for the Future Expo
Registration information for the Safe from the Start - Tools for the Future Expo will be sent to over 7,000 Californians and placed on our website at www.safefromthestart.org later this month. The Expo will take place in Sacramento on March 12,2002 (registration fee is $60). The event will include expert speakers and trainers on how communities can move from discussions to actions, which strategies are having an impact on reducing the effects of violence on children, and how to obtain funding and effectively evaluate programs and systems changes in your community. The keynote speaker for the event is Dennis Maloney, the Community Justice Director from Oregon, who will share a different perspective. As well, the event will have two nationally recognized trainers, Robert Kirchner and Gregory Robinson, providing tools you can use to evaluate programs or strategies. Of you are interested in providing a display from your agency, organization or community at the event please call the Attorney General's Conference Planning Unit at (916) 323-5608.

Safe from the Start Educational Video
Filming has begun for the forthcoming Safe from the Start Educational Video. The 15-minute video can be used to educate, motivate and generate interest in reducing children's exposure to violence. Attorney General Bill Lockyer will preview the dynamic-paced video at the Tools the Future Expo on March 12, 2002. Order your free copy of the video from the Safe from the Start website immediately following the Expo.

In addition, the California Attorney General's Office is co-sponsoring a 2-day conference, "Violence and Crime in California: From Evidence to Policy", on March 6 and 7, 2002 in Pasadena. The conference will allow local leaders to interact with policy experts on the subject of crime and violence. For more information on the event, contact Public Health Institute Conference and Logistics Team at (916) 925-0983.

Article - "Bullies at Risk for Future Addiction"
A National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) workshop on handling bullies revealed that bullying could lead to adult criminal behaviors for the victim and the bully, Youth Crime Alert reported in it's November issue. According to the NCPC figures, children who are bullies by age 8 have a one-in-four chance of having a criminal record by age 30. Rosaik, from NCPC, children need to be taught to tell on bullies and encouraged schools to implement role-playing as a part of a preventative classroom program.

For the full article, or 35,000 articles just like it go to www.jointogether.org .

New Data on Children's Mental Health Problems
United States 2000 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services reports that approximately 8.2% of children and adolescent age 5-17 have a psychiatric problem and/or a related significant behavioral impairment. More than 12% of these students missed one or more days of school in the past 2 weeks. About 30% were currently seeing a mental health provider or had received therapy in th past year. 29% of children and adolescents in juvenile justice residential placements have serious emotional disturbance. For more information go to www.samhsa.gov.

Why Did Violence and Crime Drop in the 1990s?
Driven by an epidemic of crack cocaine use and handgun-toting young people, crime peaked in the early 1990's. Experts offer explanations for the subsequent decline in crime through 1999 in a document available on the Attorney General's web site. They also suggest circumstances that could cause crime to increase in this millennium. Review the document at: www.caag.state.ca.us/cjsc/publications/misc/why/rpt.pdf.

Promotional Video Available to Order
The National Council for State Legislature has produced a promotional video for coordinating school health. It can be ordered from their website at www.ncsl.org .

Training opportunities Available in Los Angeles
Children's Institute International's "Children and Violence Training Initiative" (funded through a grant from the LA Co. Children and Families First, Proposition 10 Commission) targets Head Start/State Preschool staff and Child and Family Day Care providers. CII and the LA Co. Children and Families First Commission address the effects of violence on children from 0-5 years of age. There is training available and a presentation available in two formats, Basic and Intermediate. The Basic training contains a general summary of community violence, with particular emphasis o domestic violence and the common effect exposure can have on young children. The Intermediate training provides a synopsis of the forms of violence. Highlighted are clinical issues related to children exposed to family or community violence.

CII would like to collaborate with your agency to provide this FREE training to your staff. Please contact Felicia Fox at (213) 385-5100, ext. 2083 for more information or to arrange a meeting for further discussion of the training's format. To schedule training, contact Leane Asato at (213) 385-5100, ext. 2027.

Did You Know?
Notification of funding opportunities from the California Department of Education can be sent directly to your email inbox! Sign up at www.cde.ca.gov.

Grant Application Deadline Notification
The Violence Against Women Office, U.S. Department of Justice Application Deadline is January 31, 2002. The federal Violence Against Women Office is now accepting grant proposals from state, local and tribal agencies to address domestic violence and violence against women through a coordinated effort of the criminal justice system. A total of $64.9 million is available for grants in 2002. At least five percent of the funding will go to Indian and tribal government proposals. Download applications at www.ojp.usdoj.gov and for more information about the on-line grant submission process, call 888-549-9901.

Need help with Census Data Analysis for grant funding activities? If you want to know how many teens will be living in your community in five years, or how many non-English speaking families are residing in your community, you can analyze U.S. Census data. For help answering your questions, email Kurt Metzger aa3400@wayne.edu research director of the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University.

What Works (and What Doesn't) to solve social problems? According to the Pew Partnership, community strategies that ensure healthy families and children, thriving neighborhoods, living-wage jobs and visible economies, need time, money and a comprehensive approach to be successful www.pew-partnership.org.

Child Abuse/Domestic Violence Nexus
Domestic violence advocates and child protective workers look at their work from different perspectives. The domestic violence community focuses on the safety and well being of the battered victim while child abuse advocates examine the abuse perpetrated against the child. Often times, this leads to serious problems, particularly for the victim and child when the domestic violence and child abuse are not each addressed comprehensively. That is the context for the publication "Effective Intervention in Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment Cases: Guidelines for Policy and Practice". Published by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, this book is intended to offer communities a framework to develop interventions and measure progress as they look at the nexus between domestic violence and child abuse. It is also intended to present policy makers with tools to develop public policy focused primary at keeping each member of the family safe. To order this publication, contact the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, P.O. Box 8970, Reno, Nevada 89507 (775) 784-6012.