The Dubois County Community Foundation announced a $ 560,000 grant to the Southwestern Indiana Child Advocacy Center Coalition (SWICACC) for their new Dubois County Child Advocacy Center.

“Dubois County needs to be a priority and investing community in our children,” said Clayton Boyles, executive director of the Community Foundation. “This project is an integral part of taking care of children who have been abused or neglected and we need to be a community to look out for them.”

The Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools donated the Fifth Street Elementary School property to SWICACC in February of this year. The western part of the building is currently being renovated and will then be converted into a child advocacy center called Center on Fifth. The Community Foundation grant of $ 560,000 serves a donation goal of $ 1.1 million to be used for renovation costs.

A child counseling center is a child-friendly facility that uses a team approach to investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect. A multidisciplinary team (MDT) consists of doctors, law enforcement, the Child Care Department (DCS), law enforcement, mental health, and victims who work together to investigate abuse, hold criminals accountable, and help children and their families heal .

“Child abuse is an epidemic devastating our communities,” said Tammy Lampert, SWICACC director. “The new child advocacy center will be a regional resilience center and directly improve outcomes for children by providing all the services the child needs in a child-friendly location,” said Lampert.

The $ 560,000 grant was made possible by Fund for Dubois County, John and Bobbi Jo Bell and several anonymous donors from the Community Foundation.

“The Dubois County Fund, our unrestricted endowment pool, gives us the flexibility to meet unmet needs in our community like this one. Our donors have been very committed, which is proof of their passion for this project. It wouldn’t have been possible to make this a significant grant otherwise, ”Boyles said. “We have a strong partner in SWICACC who is in line with our strategic plan and committed donors, all of which are required for an investment of this magnitude.”

“A center for child advocacy serves as the basis for all trained specialists to come together in one place for the benefit of the child. It has been proven that children can benefit and even thrive after abuse if the response is child-friendly and multidisciplinary, ”said Lampert.

SWICACC, a non-profit organization founded in 2009, provides forensic interview services to children who report abuse in Region 17, including Counties Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Martin, Orange, Perry and Spencer. Since then, over 756 Dubois County children have received SWICACC services following an abuse report.