IN THIS EDITION
Welcome to the first edition of our CAC newsletter! Read on to learn about program updates, ordering information, program evaluation status, and more.
As we expand our program offerings, we are also rebranding! Check out our new website wwwstaging.mbfpreventioneducation.org. Be on the lookout for additional improvements as we make it easier to access and more user friendly.
As always, we welcome your feedback. Please send comments and suggestions about the newsletter, as well as updates on your organization’s work with our prevention education programs, to info@MBFpreventioneducation.org.
CAC UPDATE
In April of 2017, MBF invited staff from Child Advocacy Centers around the state to Kissimmee to receive training and resources for the MBF Child Safety Matters® and MBF Teen Safety Matters® programs. Our goal is to provide child advocacy centers with prevention education curriculum and resources to partner with Florida public schools.
Since last spring seven CACs have implemented the lessons in schools, and over 20,000 students have received valuable information on how they can prevent all types of abuse, bullying, cyberbullying, and other types of victimization. Thank you to all of the CAC staff and volunteers who have made this happen!
Just a reminder, if you need additional staff or volunteers trained, contact Nan Worsowicz at nan@mbfpreventioneducation.org.
ORDERING INFORMATION
We continue to receive an appropriation from the Office of the Florida Attorney General to provide theMBF Child Safety Matters and MBF Teen Safety Matters programs AT NO COST to Florida public schools. However, with an increase in schools using the programs and no increase in funding, we cannot guarantee materials will be available throughout the 18-19 school year.
We encourage you to ORDER NOW to ensure you will receive materials. If you would like to preorder materials for the 2018-19 school year, use this link: www.safetymattersorder.org.
TIPS AND REMINDERS
* After completing our live or online facilitator training, each facilitator receives an email with login credentials for our password protected facilitator site. If you never received this information, or have forgotten your login and password, contact us and we will send it to you.
* In addition to English, all parent materials are available in Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole. You can access the foreign language materials on our password protected website.
* Both of our programs come with reinforcement items for students, parents, and the school. It’s important that these items reach their intended audiences to provide students with multiple exposures to the 5 Safety Rules. Contact us if you ever need additional reinforcements.
* Charter schools are public schools too! You can partner with charter schools to implement lessons and can order the program materials at no cost!
* Because we receive funding from the state, we are required to maintain records of which schools and how many students have received MBF Prevention Education Program lessons.
– As you schedule lessons, please place a separate order for each school to ensure we have accurate records.
– If your organization participated in the April, 2017 training, we shipped you materials for 1200 students. If you used those materials with students during the 2017-18 school year, please email Nan Worsowicz with a list of schools and the number of students you reached nan@mbfpreventioneducation.org.
SUCCESSES AND BARRIERS
We would love to hear from you about any successes, or barriers, you have encountered. We encourage you to use the following guides to help you in your work with schools and school systems:
If you are just starting outreach or implementation, we would be happy to connect you with CAC staff who have been using our programs in schools. Remember, we are here to support you. We love to share your success and to support you with any challenges you face with outreach and prevention. Please reach out to us with either!
PROGRAM UPDATES
Thanks to our wonderful facilitators, MBF Child Safety Matters has reached over 463,000 students. In its first full year of implementation MBF Teen Safety Matters reached over 190,000 students. We are working hard to complete MBF After-School Safety Matters, and have some other new projects in the works. Stay tuned for more information.
PROGRAM EVALUATION
The MBF Child Safety Matters is now considered an “evidence based program”! MBF is committed to providing research-based, effective programs. We have just received the final report from our first randomized controlled trial of MBF Child Safety Matters. The results are very positive, showing that students who received our program had significantly higher post-test scores than the control group who had not received the lessons. The study was conducted by notable researcher Dr. David Finkelhor, Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire and researchers from the University of Florida, Dr. Melissa Bright, Dr. David Miller, and Dr. Mona Sayedul Huq. We are continuing to build our evidence base as we conduct a 6-month follow up to assess those same students’ learning retention. The researchers anticipate publishing the study results in a peer-reviewed journal in the coming year. For more information on the program evaluation go to this link https://mbfpreventioneducation.org/why-use-our-programs/research/
If you are working with an elementary school that has never implemented MBF Child Safety Matterslessons and would like to participate in our research, please contact us at info@mbfpreventioneducation.org.
TRENDING
#ChangetheConversation, our social media campaign during April, was a huge success. Thank you to every facilitator, educator, parent, and other concerned community member who did their part to #Starttheconversation and #Continuetheconversation.
The campaign is still going with new videos and content being posted daily. Check out our social media pages to be involved in the conversation.
Together we WILL #Changetheconversation and educate and empower the next generation so they will never have to say #MeToo, but instead will be able to proclaim, #NoMoreMeToo!
OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS
Our Night at Roy’s annual fundraiser was held on May 2nd in Jacksonville!
We loved having 16 facilitators join us to be recognized at this special event.
We’d love to see more facilitators at next year’s event. Please watch future newsletters and join the MBF team and supporters for this incredible event next May.
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