COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER TO PROTECT CHILDREN
The YMCA Joins National Five Days of Action to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse
The YMCA of Greater Nashua is participating in the Five Days of Action, April 21-25, 2025. The Five Days of Action is a week-long campaign to raise awareness and inspire adults to take action to protect children from sexual abuse.
The Y encourages adults and organizations to join in marking this special week as Greater Nashua comes together to make the community a safer place for children to live, learn, and play. With summer right around the corner—when children gather for activities and camps, it is a wonderful time to bring attention to the simple ways we can all make the children in our community safer.
The Know. See. Respond. campaign is back this year, tying in three impact areas – preventing child sexual abuse at both summer camp and in youth sports, and internet safety.
“The children of our region have the right to a happy and safe childhood, and it’s our responsibility as adults and organizations to stand up to protect that right,” said Jennifer Colangelo, Chief Human Resources Officer for the YMCA of Greater Nashua. “By joining in the Five Days of Action campaign, we hope to inspire other organizations and members of our community to create safe spaces that protect children from sexual abuse.”
Our Y is fully committed to protecting youth from abuse in our community, and we are asking you to join us.
Please tune into our Facebook page during the Five Days of Action from April 21-25 or read through the list of resources below to learn more and get involved with child-protection efforts.
As a community, we have an obligation to nurture our children and protect their only childhood. We must prevent child sexual abuse to live up to this obligation. A key tool in abuse prevention is knowledge, so it’s important that parents and caregivers are informed of the Y’s policies around children. Together we can work to ensure all children in Greater Nashua region reach their full potential.
Click Here to download Our Commitment to Child Safety Brochure for more details.
As part of our commitment to protecting the children in our community, we’re participating in the Five Days of Action – a week-long campaign to increase awareness of child sexual abuse and empower and equip us all to prevent it. By taking part in this important campaign and through implementing abuse prevention practices year-round, we are committing to the safety of all children in our community.
The Know. See. Respond. campaign is back this year, and Praesidium, Saprea, and Lauren’s Kids have shared resources to support this campaign.
Know
When evaluating camps, sports, and other activities for your child, do you KNOW what questions to ask about abuse prevention? As parents, caregivers, and trusted adults, we play a vital role in protecting children and teens from abuse. Learn the key questions to ask from Praesidium, the YMCA’s partner in child abuse prevention: praesidiuminc.com/6-key-questions-a-parent-should-ask-of-an-organization.
See
When we SEE grooming patterns—methodical, subtle, gradual, and escalating behaviors used to groom a child for sexual abuse—we can identify them, strengthen our intuition, and protect children. Learn the 6 grooming behaviors every parent or caregiver needs to know and what to do if you see them, from our partner, Saprea: saprea.org/blog/6-perpetrator-grooming-behaviors.
Respond
RESPONDing starts when a child or teen feels heard and is helped. How can you take action to prevent child sexual abuse? The Trusted Triangle (for younger children) and the Safety NETwork (for older youth) are strategies from Lauren’s Kids Safer, Smarter Families Family Safety Toolkit. These resources are designed to help families and caregivers teach personal and digital safety in a comfortable and accessible way.
Grades K-2: safersmarterfamilies.org/grades-k-2
Grades 3-5: safersmarterfamilies.org/grades-3-5
OTHER RESOURCES
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YMCA’s Commitment to Child Safety Brochure: English
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Abuse Prevention Introduction: Click Here
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Recognize Abuse and it’s Warning Signs: Click Here
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How to Talk to Youth About Abuse: Click Here
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How to Respond to Child Abuse: Click Here
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6 Key Questions a Parent Should Ask of a Camp: Click Here
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Online Trainings fro Parents and Caregivers: Click Here
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Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Online Training: Click Here
About YMCA of Greater Nashua
The YMCA of Greater Nashua is a positive force in the Greater Nashua community fully committed to preventing child abuse. Together, with our community partners, we take on the challenges that shape our area’s future. From tackling the achievement gap to teaching healthy habits for a lifetime or giving people the chance to strengthen our community through volunteering, everything the Y does is in service of building a better us.
About Praesidium
Praesidium specializes in preventing sexual abuse in organizations that serve youth and vulnerable adults. Over a period in excess of 25 years, the company has reviewed over 4,000 cases of abuse within organizations to determine the root causes of sexual abuse within organizational settings. Praesidium employs more than 40 staff, including licensed social workers, lawyers, psychologists, health care researchers, and other experts. The company has served over 5,000 clients with a broad range of products and services to aid organizations in preventing abuse, including online and instructor‐led trainings; organizational risk assessments; model policies and incident investigations. Having trained more than one million people online and hundreds of thousands in person, Praesidium is the largest and most comprehensive sexual abuse risk management firm globally. For more information, visit www.praesidiuminc.com.
About Saprea
Backed by a team of clinical experts and a willful community of survivors and defenders, Saprea is liberating individuals and society from child sexual abuse and its lasting impacts. With clinically proven tools and resources, we empower survivors, parents, and community members with the knowledge needed to protect, heal, and overcome. For more information, visit www.saprea.org.
About Lauren’s Kids
Lauren’s Kids educates adults and children about sexual abuse prevention through in-school curriculum, resources for families. The Foundation provides more than 10 million education and awareness materials statewide through direct mail each year, and has helped advocate for the passage of nearly two dozen laws to support survivors and protect children from predators. The ultimate goal is to prevent sexual abuse through education and awareness, and to help survivors heal with guidance and support. For more information, visit www.laurenskids.org.
About Darkness to Light
Darkness to Light is a nonprofit organization with the mission to empower adults to prevent child sexual abuse through awareness, education, and stigma reduction. Darkness to Light’s flagship program, Stewards of Children®, is an evidence-informed, award-winning training that teaches adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. More than 1.9 million adults have been trained using Darkness to Light trainings. For more information, visit www.D2L.org.
About U.S. Center for SafeSport
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an independent nonprofit committed to building a sport community where participants can work and learn together free of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and misconduct. Explore our site for training resources, help and best practices for coaches, parents, athletes, youth and amateur sports organizations in creating your SafeSport environment, visit www.uscenterforsafesport.org.