By Jenna Turner | Prevention & Education Coordinator
Among the recent staff changes in the Prevention and Education Department, we have finished the school year strong, and started the summer even stronger! Amazingly, P&E educated 18,338 students between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023! This is almost 2,000 more than the year prior. Talk about a WIN!
As the weather gets warmer and kids are home for the summer, people would typically think that our job in the Prevention & Education Department is over, but that is far from the truth! Our two School Education Advocates, Tami and Grace, along with the Prevention & Education Coordinator Jenna have been extremely busy tailoring our implementation practices, searching for supplemental videos that educate kids on consent and healthy boundaries, scheduling schools for Fall and Spring implementations, and more! P&E recently had the wonderful opportunity to complete our first-ever summer implementation at the Portage Boys and Girls Club, where we presented the 3-Day "Think First & Stay Safe" program to 178 students that typically do not receive child sexual abuse prevention education over the summer months. This implementation was metamorphic, as we created 5 brand-new supplemental worksheets that help engage the students and allow for more interactive discussions between our School Education Advocates and each child that receives our prevention education program. These worksheets went over extremely well, and include fun themes such as legos and video games! Through generous donations from supporters like you, we were able to bring fidget toys to our Boys and Girls Club implementation; something that went over extremely well! We look forward to having additional opportunities like this in the near future.
Looking ahead to Fall 2023 and Spring 2024, our Prevention and Education Department has scheduled implementations beginning August 14th all the way through April 26th! We are set to implement at 29 different schools in Northwest Indiana while using a combination of the "Think First & Stay Safe" program and the Monique Burr Foundation's "Teen Safety Matters" program. We are eager to find a partnering school to implement IPATH's "What Would I Do?" anti-trafficking curriculum, and hope to reach our local high-risk communities such as Gary, East Chicago, Whiting, and Hammond.
Furthering our community outreach efforts, P&E has started our first-ever Parent Summer Safety Series, where we are highlighting different topics that affect children and teens in Northwest Indiana. The five topics we are covering in this series include, "How to Identify Abuse in Teen Relationships, Including the LGBT+ Community," "Growing Up: Child Sexual Abuse Through the Lens of Immigrant Culture," "Hard Conversations: Talking to Your Teens About Consent and Relationship Red Flags," and, "Talking To Your Teens About Social Media and Electronic Relationships." If you are interested in these FREE webinars, please register using this link! Spaces are limited, so make sure you act fast!
In addition to our implementation preparations, P&E has been able to attend Indiana University Northwest's Red Flag Campaign bystander intervention awareness event, the Geminus Porter County Pinwheel 5k to Prevent Child Abuse in April (where Jenna, Grace, and Community Relations Director Shana all won medals!), and the SouthShore Summer of Learning Conference! We certainly have been busy in P&E!
Make sure to follow us on our socials for our "P&E Takeover" scheduled for July 31st - August 4th! You'll get a sneak peek of our worksheets, Parent Series updates, and see "school shout-outs" that will receive our prevention education programs!
P&E continues to work diligently on providing child sexual abuse education to children, teens, and parents in Northwest Indiana. If you are ever interested in receving an education/training from the Prevention & Education Department, please reach out to Jenna Turner at jenna.turner@fairhavenrcc.org.
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By Jenna Turner | Prevention & Education Coordinator
By Rachael McConnell | Prevention & Education Coordinator
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