Darkness to Light presented our national awards at our National Prevention Conference, IGNITE 2019.
During IGNITE 2019, Darkness to Light recognized individuals who have gone above and beyond to further the mission of ending child sexual abuse. Awards presented included Instructor of the Year, Facilitator of the Year, and the Partner in Prevention Leadership Award. The recipient of each award has committed their time and energy to a grassroots prevention movement and has accomplished meaningful progress in their community.
We are so grateful for the amazing partners that work tirelessly in their communities to protect children from sexual abuse. From dedicating their time to promote prevention via trainings and conversations to ensuring that organizations in their communities provide child-safe environments, our Authorized Facilitators are the foundation of Darkness to Light. Each one embodies our core values. Together, we have trained more than 1.7 million adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse, across 50 states and 64 countries.
Instructor of the Year
Tiffany Sawyer has been part of Darkness to Light for more than 15 years. Tiffany contributed greatly towards the creation of Stewards of Children®–in fact, she is one of the on-screen experts in the video training, and was one of the first instructors of the prevention education curriculum. She acts as a mentor and motivator to the individuals within her organization and the greater instructor community. As Director of Prevention at the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, she launched the first state-wide child sexual abuse prevention initiative training regional coordinators to be instructors and provide facilitator training to their communities to disseminate Stewards of Children® training to their communities. Tiffany has trained over 4,000 individuals through Stewards of Children®.
Through Tiffany’s leadership, the state of Georgia has trained more than 180,000 individuals in child sexual abuse prevention. With her help, 20 counties in Georgia have reached tipping point, training 5% of their population in Stewards of Children®. Of those counties, three have surpassed 10% of the population trained! Tiffany and her team are longstanding partners with Darkness to Light and we appreciate their continued support and dedication to ensuring children grow up happy and healthy. They are excellent examples of how to create and sustain a successful statewide initiative. We are honored to continue to work alongside Tiffany and cannot thank her enough for her dedication to the protection of children.
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Facilitator of the Year
Megan Banet is a Prevention Specialist at the Memphis Child Advocacy Center and became a Darkness to Light Facilitator in 2012. Since 2012, Megan has trained more than 12,000 individuals in Stewards of Children®. Megan was a crucial component to her CAC’s achievement of training 25,000 people in Stewards of Children®. That’s 3.5% of the population of their county, putting them so close to hitting tipping point! This puts them closer to their 35,000 trained tipping point goal, which we are confident Megan and her teammates will soon achieve. We are regularly inspired by Megan’s dedication to training her community in child sexual abuse prevention. In addition to providing Stewards of Children® training to Memphis and the larger Shelby county area, Megan also provides a Child Safe Policy Training to youth serving organizations to assist in the creation or strengthening of their child protection policies. Megan, thank you for your commitment to child sexual abuse prevention!
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Partner in Prevention LEADERSHIP Award
Katelynn Kniffin is the Prevention Program Director at Liberty House Children’s Assessment Center in Salem, Oregon. She’s been with the organization since 2018 and is the primary facilitator offering both Stewards of Children® and our additional trainings throughout Marion and Polk counties. Katelynn is diligent about informing the organizations she trains about our Partner in Prevention Program and working with them to achieve this accolade. She’s assisted all seven of the Boys and Girls Clubs to achieve Partner in Prevention status this year, as well as other state agencies, youth serving organizations, and corporate partners. We greatly appreciate Katelynn’s dedication to providing prevention education in her local communities and for her encouragement in having them become Partners in Prevention.
Do you have a drive to prevent abuse and protect kids? Darkness to Light Authorized Facilitators teach adults how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse and talk openly about child sexual abuse to engage adults in their organizations and communities. If you are interested in learning more, check out the qualifications here.
Photos were taken by Robert Castagna.
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