Volunteers of America create Cheney ‘Safe Place'

By CARA LORELLO

Staff Reporter

Visitors to Cheney's downtown library may have noticed a new black-and-yellow “Safe Place” sign posted outside the building.

The sign is the official symbol of Eastern Washington and North Idaho Volunteers of America's national Safe Place program that offers immediate help and safety services to youth in crisis in the community. A large network of regional businesses and community buildings display these signs and have staff trained to respond to crisis situations involving youth.

Cheney Library joined the network in December 2007, and Medical Lake and Airway Heights' libraries are also participants in the Volunteers of America (VOA) Safe Place program.

Cheney Library manager Linda Dunham said prior to its joining, the library maintained its own safety procedures to handle youth in crisis. Since the library deals largely with children on a daily basis, the VOA program aligned nicely as an adjunct service to what measures were already in place.

“Libraries are natural gathering places for children, and adults. You can be exposed to any number of situations,” Dunham said. “This [program] is a back up, basically, for us, as a way to link kids up with resources for help.”

Eastern Washington and North Idaho VOA are nonprofit, locally governed and managed affiliates of the national VOA organization, which works in partnership with congregations, businesses, foundations, state and local government agencies supported by donors and volunteers. VOA provides a continuum of programs designed to assist high-risk populations including street teens, adults battling chronic homelessness, low-income/at-risk youth and families. Programs include shelter, housing, and support services, like the Safe Place program.

Should a child in crisis enter a Safe Place location, business staff or a program volunteer will arrange transportation to a nearby shelter, or the program drop-off center, located at 525 W. Second Ave. in downtown Spokane, where counseling, shelter services, and other resources are provided.

VOA operations coordinator Lauren Steed said the group is actively pursuing recruitment of West Plains businesses to become Safe Place locations

“We'd like to get more businesses to participate in the program. We would like to extend out as much as possible,” Steed said.

“‘Our Kids, Our Business,' that's our slogan,” she added of the Spokane area program. There are currently 40 participating states in the VOA Safe Place program, which has operated in Coeur d'Alene since 1999, and Washington state was the 40th state to join in April 2007.

Program officials will also be visiting area schools throughout the year to educate youth about the availability of services in the area, Steed added. West Plains school districts will be included in this loop, once visits to District 81, West Valley, East Valley and Central Valley are through.

Becoming a Safe Place requires a fairly seamless process at no cost to the business or agency, Steed said, and is an opportunity for local communities to become involved by offering a connection to the program's services benefiting children and families.

“A lot of the problems we see deal with issues happening in the home. Kids can go to a Safe Place site in their community ask for help, and we are open 24 hours,” Steed said.

The first step is contacting VOA's Safe Place department at 624-2378. A group representative conducts a safety assessment of the location, and employees must agree to have background checks. Next, a department official provides a short training session with company managers, supervisors and, if possible, all staff. The last step is putting up a Safe Place sign. Materials are provided at no cost.

Dunham said establishing more area Safe Places offers the shared benefit of maintaining communities' focus on kids' safety.

“You do want to believe that our communities are safe places, and this is a child- and family-friendly way that actually gives people a way to have that,” she said.

More information on the VOA Safe Place programs can be found at http://www.voaspokane.org.

Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]