Atlanta’s Boy Scouts are once again teaming up with community leaders with a single goal: keeping children safe.
For the sixth year, the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America will host a Youth Protection Seminar at its Cobb County headquarters. Those who work with children are invited to attend the Oct. 10 event, which will offer presentations from several experts. Author and child abuse survivor David Moody will be the keynote speaker.
“It’s an effort to reach across the barriers or aisles to all of those that work with kids,” Josh Kirkham, safe scouting and operations director, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There is no agenda other than keeping kids safe.”
Several organizations are teaming up with the Boy Scouts for the seminar, including WellStar Health System, Boys and Girls Club of Metro Atlanta, the GBI, Cobb County schools, Big Brothers Big Sisters, The YMCA, Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, Gladiators Atlanta, Atlanta Area Association of Independent Schools and The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta. Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields is the event chair.
“I commend the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America for bringing us together for this important dialogue,” Shields said. “Many children are incredibly vulnerable in today’s world and now, perhaps more than ever, are in desperate need of role models and responsible adults who can help guide them. Those of us in law enforcement have a unique opportunity to engage children in a positive manner on the front end of their development, and we need to seize on it.”
Anyone who serves youth, including school counselors, social workers, medical professionals, church leaders and coaches, are encouraged to attend. The cost is $35 and the event will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Atlanta office, located at 1800 Circle 75 Parkway, across from SunTrust Park.
For more information and to register visit AtlantaBSA.org/YPSeminar.
