Last Friday, September 23, 2011 the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance came together to discuss child protection. Thirty-nine Ys were present at the meeting, and all approved taking D2L’s Stewards of Children program to scale and moving ahead with implementing the training program in their communities. Rick Gorab, CEO of the Metro YMCAs of the Oranges, stated “We all look forward to our important work together as we begin to lay the groundwork to deliver the program statewide and take the 7 steps to protect our children.”
This commitment is a huge step forward in the protection of children for the state of NJ, and D2L is excited about this new partnership. The NJ Y’s join a growing movement of Y’s that are tackling CSA prevention head on as part of their social responsibility focus area. See D2L’s announcement of the Y partnership here.
To have the entire NJ Alliance committing to this effort more than doubles the number of Y’s that are partnering with D2L on this important work. As Rick Gorab stated, “We have chosen to lead…priority one is protecting kids.” In the upcoming weeks the NJ YMCAS will continue their leadership role in csa prevention by forming a D2L task force to help implement the training program throughout the YMCA’s service areas.
