Celebrating Successes in Our Region
For this month’s edition of the SRCAC Spotlight newsletter, we asked the Chapters in our region to share some of their particularly notable accomplishments over these past several months, given the challenging circumstances that they and their member CACs have been working under. Included in these accomplishments are many “firsts” for these states. SRCAC has been working closely with all of the 16 Chapters in our region to provide assistance and to help provide opportunities for Chapters to exchange information, resources, and best practices as they continue to support their member CACs during this time. We hope you enjoy learning about some of the exciting things that are happening throughout our region!
ARKANSAS
Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas

The Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas received a VOCA grant of over $700,000 to develop a statewide awareness campaign. The campaign included:
  • Developing messages for over 26 billboards.
  • Creating a TV commercial that was aired statewide.
  • Posting ads to social media and radio.
  • Designing and printing materials (brochures, posters, etc.) in English and Spanish for statewide distribution to CACs.

Elizabeth Pulley, Executive Director of the State Chapter, writes, “It has brought tremendous awareness to all of our CACs, showed our connection with each other, and shared victims services. VOCA loved what we did and has recently decided to renew our campaign for an additional $250,000.00 for 2021! We plan to work on more material geared towards teens and billboards.”
LOUISIANA
Louisiana Alliance of Children's Advocacy Centers

In July of 2020, the Louisiana Alliance of Children’s Advocacy Centers received a statewide appropriation for Louisiana CACs of $750,000 in state general funds. This is the fulfillment of a long-time goal for the CACs across Louisiana and means that all 16 states within the Southern Region have now successfully acquired state funding.
The Chapter had great support in this endeavor from Governor John Bel Edwards and First Lady Donna Edwards, as well as House Appropriations Chairman Jerome Zeringue. They are thrilled that even in the most challenging of circumstances, the state is still prioritizing CACs and the fight against child abuse. 
MARYLAND
Maryland Children's Alliance
The Maryland Children’s Alliance (MCA) is celebrating several successes with their CACs this year, including:
  • In February, several facility dogs helped pass Maryland legislation to allow dogs in the courthouses to support children. (The photo is of Governor Larry Hogan with four of the representing CACs.)
  • The Harford County CAC acquired the first ESD (electronic storage detection) dog in the State of Maryland. 
  • Maryland CACs received PPE through the state department of Health and the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services. Thanks to The Listening Place of Howard County, the equipment was distributed safely to CACs across the state. 
  • MCA shared the The National Standards for Accredited Members Adapted for Victims of Child Trafficking in three presentations reaching over 100 partners in Maryland and 279 nationwide.
  • MCA completed their training manual entitled Putting Your MDT F.I.R.S.T. and shared with the MCA network.
MISSISSIPPI
Children's Advocacy Centers of Mississippi
The Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi (CACM) is celebrating several successes in their state:
  • The Child Advocacy Training Institute, a 10,000 square foot simulation training center, was officially opened. This training facility will be used to host hands-on training and learning simulations for CAC and MDT staff across the state. (View press release.)
  • The “I Protect Children” car tag was created to support CACM.
  • Three new satellite offices were opened this year – the Kids Hub CAC of Marion County, the Southwest Mississippi CAC of Lincoln County, and the Canopy Children’s Solutions of Jackson County.
NORTH CAROLINA
Children's Advocacy Centers
of North Carolina

The Children’s Advocacy Centers of North Carolina hosted its 26th Reflections Symposium this year. Despite moving to a virtual platform, they still had their largest attendance to date with almost 450 participants.
Additionally, CACs across the state of North Carolina were granted CARES funding in excess of $4,000,000.
SOUTH CAROLINA
South Carolina Network of Children's Advocacy Centers

For years, the South Carolina Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (SCNCAC) has faced obstacles with their state’s Victim Service provider training in that it is legislatively mandated but does not meet NCA Accreditation Standards.
The training is necessary as the state requires all victim advocates to be certified. SCNCAC petitioned the state agency that oversees state certification requirements to allow them to develop a curriculum to meet both the state and NCA Accreditation requirements. This year, this long-term project was completed. The new 24-hour blended curriculum includes 8 hours of training hosted on the Chapter’s eLearning system and 16 hours of classroom instruction. The resulting program has been approved by the state of South Carolina to meet Initial Victim Service Provider certification requirements and pre-approved by NCA to meet the Victim Advocate Accreditation Standards.

You can read more about the program here: https://www.cac-sc.org/VSP/.
WEST VIRGINIA
West Virginia Child Advocacy Network

To assist CACs in adjusting to post-COVID realities, the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network was able to procure COVID-19 aid from three foundations that have been long time partners of the CAC movement in West Virginia. These funding categories included $39,305 for Organizational Capacity, $53,865 for Client Assistance, and $36,565 for Personal Protective Equipment.
SRCAC Online Learning Opportunities
If you are interested in online learning opportunities, check out these offerings from SRCAC at no cost.
Interactive course designed for new and existing board members. An excellent resource for onboarding new board members. Click here to log into the NCAC VTC to access.
New podcast series that includes podcasts on the challenges faced by CACs serving rural communities and on transitioning CAC services to virtual delivery. More podcasts to come! Click here to listen.
Video series on the impacts of Secondary Traumatic Stress. STS experts examine this issue from the perspectives of the direct service provider, supervisor, senior leadership, and organizational capacity. Click here to view.
This publication is funded through grant #2019-CI-FX-K003 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components, operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this publication (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).
Southern Regional CAC | Vol. 3 No. 5: October 2020