Amount Requested: $50,000
The requested funds will provide in-school, hands-on preventive education to prevent on-line exploitation of middle and high school youth in Dutchess County, New York.  Funding would be utilized to pay for personnel and non-personnel costs associated with implementing an Internet Safety program. Costs include salary and fringe for a full time staff person as well as occupancy, utilities, supplies, travel and training. The Child Abuse Prevention Center, Inc., is a private, not-for-profit agency in Dutchess County, New York. For more than 30 years the agency has sponsored programs for parents and professionals designed to promote healthy child rearing, non-violence, as well as the identification and treatment of maltreated children.  The agency serves an average of 4,000 adults and 12,000 children annually.  Unfortunately, while much has been done to protect children from threats of maltreatment through face to face contacts with family and community members, children are now endangered by strangers who can enter their lives anonymously and in the child’s own home.