Virginia Stallworth, Associate Director of Memphis Child Advocacy along with her team, are on a mission to teach Memphis adults how to keep children safe. They recently launched a new initiative in Memphis/Shelby County with a goal of training 35,000 adults in 5 years. Virginia was recently quoted in The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, “If we can touch 5 percent of the population, a cultural shift will occur,” Stallworth said. “Just like with the seatbelt movement and smoking policies, we want to create a lasting, sustainable change so that it will become second nature for all parents to ask about child protection policies anywhere their kids spend time.”
In May, the CAC hosted a breakfast meeting with key community leaders including Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, as well as Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy and Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald where they unveiled their plan and asked for support.
Since then, the Memphis Police Department promised to put 2,400 officers through the Stewards of Children training. In addition training has already been offered to Woodland Presbyterian Church, Teach for America educators and the counselors at a local summer camp.
Congratulations to the Memphis CAC and the leaders of Memphis/Shelby for their commitment to CSA prevention!
Click here to read the full article in The Commercial Appeal by Samantha Bryson.
