[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 32 (Friday, March 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2356-S2357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL SAFE PLACE WEEK

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I would like to bring one other issue 
before the Senate today. I am talking about ``National Safe Place 
Week.'' I rise today to thank my colleagues for passing Senate 
Resolution 96, which designates this week, March 15 through 21, as 
``National Safe Place Week.''
  I am truly pleased that the Senate agrees that Project Safe Place is 
a valuable community resource which deserves our attention and our 
recognition.
  Project Safe Place is a unique union of community agencies and the 
private sector that promotes the well-being of our Nation's troubled 
youth. It is an innovative program of nonresidential community 
locations where youth who are at risk or in crisis situations can 
obtain help quickly and find shelter if necessary.
  The mission of Project Safe Place is to cultivate community 
involvement, to combat adolescent crime and substance addiction, and to 
help youth who are abused, threatened, lost or scared, or in an unsafe 
situation.
  Since its creation in 1983, in Louisville, KY, the scope of Project 
Safe Place has spread to include more than 8,000 Safe Places 
nationwide, and more than 27,000 young people have sought help at these 
locations. We all agree that our Nation's youth are our most valuable 
resource. In our largest cities and our smallest towns, this resource 
is threatened every minute of every day and every week.
  The threats are truly enormous. Every 4 minutes in this country, a 
youth is arrested for alcohol-related crimes. Every 7 minutes, a youth 
is arrested for drug-related crimes. And every 2 hours, a youth's life 
is snuffed out prematurely, making homicide the No. 2 killer of 10- to 
14-year-olds, usually with alcohol and drug abuse as the major factor 
in the violent act that took the life. Nearly half of all adolescent 
murders and between 20 and 35 percent of adolescent suicides are 
directly linked to alcohol and to drug abuse. Despite all of our 
efforts, alcohol and drug abuse among teenagers continues to rise.
  Child abuse and neglect also threaten our children. In 1995, Child 
Protection Service agencies reported that more than 1 million children 
were abused and neglected, and in the same year almost 1,000 children 
were known to have died as a result of abuse or neglect. Just like drug 
abuse, incidents of child abuse are increasing. Between 1986 and 1993--
a span of only 7 years--substantiated reports rose by 67 percent.
  Another threat to the safety of our children is the temptation to run 
away from these problems rather than facing them head on. Most runaway 
youth are not running to some thing; rather, they are running away from 
family problems, drug problems, or physical or sexual abuse. 
Unfortunately, runaways find out quickly that their solution can only 
bring about more problems for themselves. In order to survive on the 
streets, runaways typically turn to ``survival sex,'' theft, 
panhandling, or drugs--either selling them to pay for food and shelter 
or taking them to relieve their pain.
  All this paints a pretty dark picture for our Nation's youth. But 
there is hope. For many troubled teens--over 27,000 of them in fact--
this Safe Place sign that you see here serves as a beacon--a beacon of 
hope, a beacon of opportunity, a beacon which points to the first step 
in a long and sometimes difficult but necessary road to salvation.
  Here is how it works. Here is what the sign means. Here is what is 
behind the sign. Say you are a teenager with a major problem. You see 
the Safe Place sign outside of your local fast-food restaurant and you 
decide that you need help with whatever you are facing. You walk in. It 
is busy. But as soon as you mention Safe Place and ask an employee for 
help, you are taken into the back, where there is a quiet and 
comfortable situation and, most important, away from any of your 
friends who might happen to be in the restaurant or wonder what you are 
doing there.
  You do not know it, but the employee you have talked to is already on 
the phone to the local youth shelter. The shelter calls back to tell 
the employee the name of the counselor who is already on his or her 
way, and within minutes the volunteer, who is the same gender as you, 
will arrive to talk with you and transport you back to a shelter if you 
want counseling and a safe place to stay. If you decide to go to the 
shelter, counselors will be there to help

[[Page S2357]]

you resolve your problems. Also, your family will be notified so that 
they know you are all right.

  Little did you know that the first step of walking up to the counter 
and asking for help would open up to you all the local community 
service organizations that you have in your area. Little did you know 
that it would be that easy to gain help for yourself when you need it.
  It is almost as easy to become a Safe Place site. Now, I took that 
first step last year when I asked my regional office in Pocatello, ID, 
to consider becoming a Safe Place location. After my employees passed a 
background check, they attended a short training session to become 
familiar with the do's and the don'ts and the what if's of greeting 
those who might seek help. Remember, all an employee in a Safe Place 
location needs to do is act as the middle person between the victim and 
the local Safe Place office. The Safe Place volunteers and the local 
youth shelter take care of everything else.
  As Safe Place grows in my home State of Idaho, I will ask that all of 
my regional offices might join the program as well. I encourage my 
colleagues in the Senate to do the same in their regional offices. This 
morning--this very day--I have delivered information about Safe Place 
programs to each of my colleagues' offices, and I urge you to call the 
national Safe Place office to find out how you can join in this 
program. I also urge every business owner in the Nation or anyone who 
might be observing C-SPAN to talk about it and to encourage business 
owners to get involved. This is such an effortless way to give 
something back to the community you live in.
  And community is what it is all about--the businesses in a community 
working together with Safe Place volunteers, and these private 
volunteers working together with community organizations and agencies. 
Project Safe Place brings together the best of every community into a 
long chain of people and resources working together to save young 
lives.
  This chain is growing. Since I introduced the ``National Safe Place'' 
bill itself back in June of last year, 700 sites have been added to the 
Safe Place family. But this is only the beginning. The goal is to have 
a Safe Place in every State before the end of the millennium. That is 
not very far away. But I know that just as America's ingenuity created 
these Safe Place for kids, American industry and hard work is a 
guarantee that every troubled teen, every runaway and every abused or 
neglected child will know there is a Safe Place right in their own 
neighborhood if they need it.
  Mr. President, I thank you. I yield back the balance of my time and 
suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 
that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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