What's New at MACA?
Fall 2021 Newsletter
We have been busy at MACA - growing our Board and staff, standing up for children at the state house and advancing initiatives on leading-edge care for child victims of abuse.

As we approach the holiday season, please consider supporting our work by donating to MACA on Giving Tuesday and by using AmazonSmile to support MACA while you shop!
Expanding our Board

MACA is excited to welcome two new members to our board of directors:
Nicole is the Senior Case Management Specialist at Sanofi Genzyme and previously served as director of the Plymouth County CAC.
Al is the Member Solutions Director at LOMA and has extensive experience in the insurance industry, brand recognition and marketing.
Legislative Advocacy Update

MACA worked with its member CACs and two key legislators, Rep. Claire Cronin and Sen. Julian Cyr to file legislation to codify the CAC multidisciplinary response into law. The legislation was favorably recommended to both Ways and Means committees- stay tuned for how you can help support this critical legislation!

Click here to view the House bill (H.3816) and Senate bill (S.95).

MACA is also advocating to stabilize victim services funding essential to CACs and other victim service organizations. While we are disappointed that, despite our efforts, funding for this purpose was not included in the legislature's ARPA budget, we thank everyone who reached out to their legislators, and our champions in the state house: Rep. Marjorie Decker, Sen. Julian Cyr, and all who co-sponsored and supported their amendments. Please watch for our next legislative alert for ways you can support our continued effort!
Two New MACA Staff Members

MACA also recently gained two new members of our team.
Stacy Kim
Stacy joined MACA as Administrative Coordinator in 2021, and holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice & Psychology with a Minor in Sociology from Northeastern University. She brings a wealth of administrative experience from previous positions at law firms and corporate offices and extensive knowledge of criminal justice issues. 
Johanna Jarecki
Anna is is a third-year Criminal Justice and Psychology student at Northeastern University who recently joined MACA as her first co-op experience. She has held internships in and around the criminal justice system since high school and plans to work on a range of social justice issues in the future.
Addressing Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

MACA convenes the CSEC Leadership Advisory Board composed of state agency leaders working to address the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in Massachusetts. Our most recent meetings have focused on vulnerabilities to exploitation for LGBTQ+ youth and creating inclusive services for exploited and at-risk LGBTQ+ children and youth.
Trainings and Initiatives

MACA offered trainings on program evaluation, problematic sexual behaviors, TF-CBT, and more. Here are some recent training highlights:
Safe Kids Thrive
In October, staff from Children's Trust presented on the Safe Kids Thrive website, an initiative of the MA Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Task Force. SKT is a great resource for youth-serving organizations (YSO) across MA to develop and evaluate child sexual abuse prevention plans.
Advanced Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for CSEC

In October, MACA hosted an Advanced Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for Serving Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Training with Kelly Kinnish, PhD. This training provided clinicians with strategies to address unique challenges and traumas faced by CSEC survivors. We are thrilled to provide this innovative training to better serve children who are commercially sexually exploited.
Learn more about our trainings and initiatives on our website!