By Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry E. Abramson
January 16, 2006

Louisville is known around the world as a catalyst for great people and ideas. My hometown is home to the Kentucky Derby and Louisville Slugger bats - and it is the place where Muhammad Ali took his first swing at greatness.

Louisville is also home to the national Safe Place program, a ground-breaking grassroots initiative that makes help readily accessible to young people who might feel threatened. Safe Places are clearly marked, are spread across neighborhoods and are located in offices, restaurants or public buildings.

In the early 1980’s, it became clear that kids in this community whose safety was at risk had no way to seek help quickly. From our conversations with law enforcement officers and social service providers, we discovered when help was not readily available these children often remained at home where abuse, neglect and serious family problems continued or escalated. The YMCA Center for Youth Alternatives was an option, but children often had no way to get there when they felt threatened.

The director of the Louisville YMCA shelter turned to local government for help, and the result was the creation of Safe Place. The program, now a national organization serving 700 communities in 40 states, works by designating business and community locations as Safe Place sites. This allows a child experiencing a crisis or being followed by a stranger the avenue to walk in to any building displaying a Safe Place sign for help. Within a short period of time, a volunteer or staff member will arrive to meet with the young person and offer assistance.

In 1983, a city fire station in the “Old Louisville” neighborhood was designated as the first Safe Place site. In the past twenty years, the Louisville program has expanded to encompass the entire city - with convenience stores, movie theatres and fast food restaurants now dotting the landscape with the distinctive yellow and black, diamond'shaped Safe Place signs.

Three years after its start, Safe Place branched out to other communities. Today it offers agencies across the country the necessary tools to implement a Safe Place program, along with training and technical support to make the program effective.

In Louisville, there are now 629 Safe Place locations, including all of our city buses. Since the program launched, more than 87,000 young people in my hometown have visited a Safe Place site for help. An additional 86,000 children have received counseling by phone as a result of Safe Place information they received at school.

Though the numbers tell a compelling story, behind each number is a child – a child helped by a program that provides an immediate sense of safety. One late night in Louisville, a 16-year-old boy and his 11-year-old brother tried to stop their mother’s boyfriend from abusing her. When the younger boy started to panic, the boyfriend blocked the door so they could not leave. The boys made it to their second floor bedroom, broke out a window, climbed out and ran to a Safe Place site at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant. A Safe Place volunteer arrived and took the boys to the YMCA shelter, where they were provided a place to stay and counseling. Their mother received support and assistance through a local domestic violence shelter. Stories like this one echo in communities across the county. Each year in the United States, approximately 1.3 million children leave home because it is not a “safe place” for them.

The Safe Place program relies on community partners working together in the best interest of these at-risk children. Safe Place is based on building public-private partnerships that encompass all segments of the community – schools, fire departments, businesses, law enforcement, social service agencies and a network of committed volunteers from all walks of life, who make themselves available to young people at Safe Place locations at any time.

Safe Place has been and continues to be a tremendous asset to Louisville, which is why city government invests in this project. Louisville Metro provides funding for Safe Place through external agency youth funds.

Groups who are part of the program say Safe Place pays dividends – participation is good for business. In fact, a Louisville restaurant reports the Safe Place sign is invaluable because it sends a message to the community and potential patrons that it’s a business that cares about kids.

Louisville is a community that cares about kids and is proud to serve as the national headquarters for Safe Place. If you would like to learn more about launching this program in your hometown, please call 502-635-3660, or log on to www.safeplaceservices.org.