(Boston) - Boston Medical Center has received a one-year grant for $50,000 from The Avon Foundation to support the Child Witness to Violence Project (CWVP) a counseling, advocacy and outreach program that focuses on young children who are bystanders to community and domestic violence. CWVP will use the grant to create a partnership to train police officers to better recognize and respond to children affected by violence.
Created in 1992, CWVP offers trauma-focused counseling and advocacy to children and their families who have been exposed to violence. The staff of bi-lingual social workers, educational and clinical psychologists, early childhood specialists, a consulting attorney and a consulting pediatrician, work with more than 150 children and their families each year, in addition to implementing both national and state-focused training for health care professionals, police, educators and many other social service professionals who confront issues of children who witness violence.
"We are grateful to The Avon Foundation for their generous donation," said Betsy McAlister Groves, director of CWVP. "This grant provides us additional resources to help the enormous number of children and families affected by this nationwide issue."
The grant is part of an annual program of Avon Products, Inc. and the Avon Foundation that invites Avon regional branch offices across the U.S. to nominate worthwhile local non-profit organizations for funding under the Avon Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program.
The Avon Foundation was founded in 1955 to improve the lives of women and their families. Flagship programs of the Foundation are the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade and the Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program, which supports domestic violence awareness, education, direct services and prevention initiatives. To date more than $10 million has been awarded to 350 domestic violence organizations across the US.