FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2011
Free Safe Place Training Offered to Youth-Friendly Businesses and Organizations

- Partnership provides access to immediate help for youth in need -

(Fresno, CA) Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission’s (EOC) Sanctuary and Youth Services is encouraging all youth-friendly businesses, organizations, and agencies to become a designated Safe Place site during Make a Difference to Children Month. The Safe Place designation gives partnering sites the tools and knowledge needed to provide youth in crisis with immediate access to intervention, support services, and a referral to EOC’s Sanctuary Youth Shelter.

“Young people perform better in all areas of their lives when they have a supportive relationship with a caring adult," says Joe Martinez, Sanctuary and Youth Services’ Community and Outreach Manager. “Safe Place sites connect youth to positive and caring adults that help them when they are in crisis. Safe Place also connects youth to long-term mentoring in their community. Research has shown that youth with mentors are less likely to engage in at risk behaviors."

In Fresno County, there are 261 local Safe Place sites that display the yellow and black “Safe Place" placard including FAX (Fresno Area Express) buses, all Fresno Unified School District schools, select Walmart and Circle K stores, Boys and Girls Clubs, City of Fresno parks and community centers, and other youth-friendly sites. Employees at each Safe Place site receive training on national standards, and operations and procedures.

Each year in Fresno County, Safe Place provides outreach and education presentations to 10,000 high school students, receives over 400 referrals from Fresno Unified School District schools to our Sanctuary Youth Shelter, and makes over 4,000 contacts with homeless and street youth through Sanctuary Outreach to the Streets (SOS) team.

Safe Place is a national initiative that operates in 40 states and has helped over 265,000 young people nationwide who have asked for help. In Fresno County, Safe Place is operated through Fresno County EOC’s Sanctuary and Youth Services.

Any local organizations or businesses interested in becoming a Safe Place site are encouraged to contact Joe Martinez, Sanctuary and Youth Services’ Community and Outreach Manager, at 559.498.8543 or Joe.Martinez@fresnoeoc.org.

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CONTACT
Yahaira Garcia-Perea
559.263.1024
yahaira.garcia-perea@fresnoeoc.org
About EOC
Our Mission
To humanely focus all available resources to empower low-income families and individuals working toward the skills, knowledge and motivation for self-sufficiency.

About EOC
Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission, known as EOC, was established in 1965 with the goal of obtaining equality of opportunity in education, employment, health and living conditions for those in need in Fresno County. We are widely recognized and are one of the largest nonprofit Community Action Agencies in the United States.

EOC has spent over four decades investing in people, helping them become self-sufficient. The scope of service provided by our Agency consists of almost all facets of human services and economic development. They range from pre-school education to vocational training; from juvenile and drug abuse counseling to treatment for serious juvenile offenders; from youth recreation to senior citizen hot meal services; from energy conservation education to crisis intervention; from preventive health care to prenatal nutrition education; and from vocational counseling to job placement services.