The Southern Arizona Child Advocacy Center wants to turn the Old Pueblo blue in honor of National Child Abuse Prevention Month on Friday, April 12.
“Blue was chosen as a symbol of the hidden scars and bruises that are carried by child abuse victims. We really want to raise awareness about the importance of preventing child abuse and neglect and the programs that we have available to help victims and their families,” said Dan Gregory, community development coordinator for center.
The center is encouraging Tucsonans to wear blue on Friday and snap a picture, then post photos to Twitter, Facebook and other social media using #GoblueforkidsAZ to raise awareness about child abuse prevention.
For nearly 25 years, the center has been dedicated to providing a safe, compassionate and healing environment for children who have been victims or witnessed crimes of child abuse.
It offers a wide range of services, including forensic interviews by specially trained examiners for abuse victims, medical exams, advocacy for family and non-offending family members and assistance with resources (food, clothing and more) for victims and family members in need.
In 2018, the nonprofit served nearly 1,400 children — 70 percent of whom were younger than 12 years of age — and their families.
Additionally, the center offers child abuse prevention programs such as internet safety and training on mandatory child abuse reporting for teachers, day-care workers, health-care professionals and others. More than 6,000 local children and adults utilized these programs last year.
