From Awareness to Action: Implementing Organizational Best Practices to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

Wednesday, August 13, 2025
3:45 PM - 4:30 PM

Adults engage with youth in various settings, such as schools, faith communities, afterschool programs, daycares, and sports leagues. These organizations are a place of development, growth, resilience, and healing for young people. The nature of these environments can also put youth at risk for harm if there aren’t practices in place to maintain boundaries and safety. This presentation will introduce Awareness to Action, an innovative strategy that meets organizations where they are to establish organizational cultures that openly discuss, address, and prevent child sexual abuse, building stronger organizational guardrails to protect children. Awareness to Action delivers a 6-month training and consultation program for youth serving organizations and is a practical application of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guide, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-Serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures. The statewide program aims to foster organizational cultures that prioritize child safety and well-being by empowering individuals within organizational systems to review and revise policies and practices to prevent child sexual abuse. Join us to learn how Awareness to Action instills primary prevention across Wisconsin and works alongside numerous statewide agencies to enhance the state’s primary prevention ecosystem.