The MBF Teen Safety Matters™ program, designed to prevent child abuse and bullying for middle-schoolers will be piloted in Northeast Florida soon. Funders gathered recently to celebrate the launch. From l to r, Ed Burr, chairman of the board, Monique Burr Foundation; Erin Merryn, Author and Advocate for Child Safety and Keynote Speaker at the MBF Champions for Child Safety Awards Luncheon; Mary Baer, Emcee for the luncheon and News Anchor, WJXT; Missy Peters, executive director, Community First Cares Foundation; and Craig Comfort, Southeast Region Marketing Manager, Mazda.

 A new program, MBF Teen Safety Matters™, was recently launched by the Monique Burr Foundation for Children to prevent child abuse and bullying among teen-agers. The new program complements the MBF Child Safety Matters™ curriculum for elementary students.

“We are thrilled and grateful that funding and support have combined to launch this needed program,” said Ed Burr, chairman of the board and founder, Monique Burr Foundation for Children. “Due to the generous funding from the Attorney General’s Office, State of Florida; the Mazda Foundation and the Community First Cares Foundation, we are able to begin offering this program in our middle schools in some areas of Northeast Florida. Our current program, MBF Child Safety Matters™ is implemented in elementary schools throughout Florida. We know that expanding the proven principles of this program through the middle school years will help our youth. These programs are research-based and evidence informed prevention education.”

Craig Comfort, Southeast Region Marketing Manager, Mazda, represented the Mazda Foundation when he said, “Helping to make our communities safe and keeping our children safe is important to Mazda and our employees. Through our support of the Monique Burr Foundation, we are making strides to stop bullying, promote internet safety and working to stop all types of abuse. “

“The Community First Cares Foundation is proud to provide this grant to help begin the MBF Teen Safety Matters™ program,” said Missy Peters, executive director, Community First Cares Foundation. “Our funders—employees, partners and vendors—trust us to choose meaningful community programs that align with our mission.”

The Monique Burr Foundation for Children, Inc., was founded in 1997 by Edward E. Burr, president and CEO of GreenPointe Holdings. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide prevention education relevant to issues facing children today through their MBF Child Safety Matters™ program, a research-based, comprehensive prevention program, designed to educate and empower students and adults with information and strategies to prevent bullying, cyberbullying, digital abuse and all types of child abuse and exploitation. For more information about the Monique Burr Foundation for Children, call (904) 642-0210 or visit www.mbfchildsafetymatters.org.