CITY COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY PASSES COUNCILWOMAN’S RESOLUTION FOR CHILD ADVOCACY FUNDING

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(PHILADELPHIA) Thursday October 11, 2012—City Council unanimously passed a resolution introduced by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown in support of House Resolution 840, urging Pennsylvania State University to fund child advocacy centers throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pursuant to the consent decree with the NCAA, Penn State has established a $60 million endowment for the stated purpose of “assisting child victims of sexual abuse and to help prevent such abuse in the future.”  Child advocacy centers provide state of the art treatment for victims of child sexual abuse and their families led by professionals with expertise in healing, justice and support services.  Currently, Pennsylvania has only 21 child advocacy centers spread across 67 counties.  Of those counties without such a support facility is Centre County, home to Penn State University. Child advocacy centers rely on funding from government, corporations, foundations and individual donors and therefore, have no dedicated stream of funding.   “This would be a huge step in the right direction to protect children throughout Pennsylvania, turning tragedy into advocacy.” said Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, a Penn State alum. “In Philadelphia, we are fortunate to have organizations like the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance who are a national model in this field.  When a child is victimized, they need our help immediately.  A parent or guardian should not have to search or travel far and wide for such support services.“ The Resolution was introduced in Harrisburg by State Representative Julie Harhart with 21 co-sponsors and will be heard in the Pennsylvania Committee on Judiciary.

For additional information please contact the Chief of Staff, David Forde at (215) 686-3438

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