In 2000, Chatham County, NC was selected as one of 11 sites to implement the Safe Start grant sponsored by the US Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Safe Start is designed to reduce the negative impact of violence on young children. Over the past five years, staff at the Chatham County Partnership for Children and community partners have worked together to help realize the following vision:

Whenever and wherever a Chatham County child is a victim or witness of a violent event, a coordinated community system responds to the needs of that child, so that every child has the opportunity to grow healthy and strong.

As the OJJDP demonstration phase concludes in June 2006, the SAFE START program will continue to focus on this vision by implementing the following three main strategies:

• Supporting children exposed to violence – by identifying children exposed to violence at any entry point in the county’s continuum of care. We will also continue to coordinate existing therapeutic and family support services for eligible children and their families in Chatham County. We may provide limited direct services as funding allows.
• Strengthening neighborhoods – by reducing tolerance to violence. Our community outreach efforts involve encouraging residents, such as parents, neighbors, faith leaders, child care providers, and business leaders, to prevent children’s exposure to violence.
• Enhancing our local system for protecting children – by improving service quality through collaboration and integration of community based programs. We will work with human service agencies and justice system partners to implement best practices, reduce duplication, and improve effectiveness of efforts to assure that no child falls through the cracks.

In 2006, Chatham County Safe Start received $150,000 of federal funding secured by U.S. Representative Bob Etheridge. This funding allows us to continue service coordination and systems change efforts on behalf of children exposed to violence. In particular, it allows us to add to funds granted by the Child Well-being Collaborative to provide therapeutic services to Safe Start clients who don’t have private insurance or Medicaid. Consequently, we have contracted with 6 direct service providers to offer family support, counseling, and psychological assessments to Chatham children, age 0-8, who have been exposed to violence.