Politics
Defending Childhood briefing 7/25
The Defending Childhood Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence spoke to policy makers and stakeholders about its work to date and the pending report of their findings and recommendations. Below is a roundup of tweets during the briefing.
- From left to right: John Listenbee Jr., Chief, Juvenile Uit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia and co-chair of the Defending Childhood Task Force; Joe Torre, Founder of Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation, Major League Baseball Exec. Vice President of Baseball Operations and co-chair of the task force; Melodee Hanes, Acting Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Defending Childhood Task Force hearing will begin shortly! #DefendChildhood http://pic.twitter.com/NAl179nm
Melodee Hanes, OJJDP acting admin, giving background on NatSCEV and initiative #DefendChildhood- Hanes: most exciting result of task force will be recommendations, "blueprint for serving children exposed to violence." #DefendChildhood
- The Defending Childhood Initiative is engaging law enforcement, practitioners, educators, etc. on solutions to reduce the impact and prevalence of children's exposure to violence. Currently, eight sites around the country have received grant money to develop community-based, strategic plans. Find more information here:
- Correx: Mary Lou Leary is the Acting Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs.
- Leery: When faced with sentencing youth, Holder wondered how many opportunities were missed along the way. #DefendChildhood
- Hanes is introducing the 13-member task force. Check our blog post for background them. safestartcenter.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/def… #DefendChildhood
- Scott: cradle to prison pipeline exists. Cradle to college or work would be more effective, less expensive. #DefendChildhood
- Scott: get them on the right track, keep them on the right track with a comprehensive approach, they'll do better. #DefendChildhood
- Back to task force: it's co-chaired by MLB Exec VP Joe Torres and Robert Listenbee Jr from Philly Defender Assoc. #DefendChildhood
- Torre is also founder of Safe At Home Foundation, @joetorrecharity. #DefendChildhood
- Torre tells how his own exposure to violence as a child shaped him as an adult. #DefendChildhood
- The Task Force traveled to Baltimore, Albuquerque, Miami and Detroit, listening to testimony from practitioners, researchers and survivors of exposure to violence.
- Torre: Baltimore was very emotional for me; Albuquerque, "wow, tribal communities." #DefendChildhood
- Torre: "Children are our treasure...it's our responsibility to take care of our kids." #DefendChildhood
- Torre continued: "They need our help. And we need their help. Children are a part of the solution. Awareness is a part of the solution. Some people think it's just a part of society that we can't do anything about. But we can do something about it..It's our responsibility to take care of our kids. Even if they don't have the same last name, they're our kids."
- Listenbee: We need more public-private partnerships to address children's exposure to violence. #DefendChildhood
- Listenbee: people think violence is an urban problem, but tribal area statistics are sometimes worse. #DefendChildhood
- Listenbee: rural areas have difficulty getting resources to address childhood exposure to violence. #DefendChildhood
- Listenbee said the report, which will include the Task Force's findings and policy recommendations, should be finished by the end of 2012.
