Monday, September 11, 2006

WILMINGTON, N.C. - As part of the area's first Youth SAFETY Summit, the University of North Carolina Wilmington will co-host a community dialogue on adolescent sexual exploitation and victimization at 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22, in the Warwick Center Ballroom. Community leaders will discuss how to develop personal safety plans for children and adolescents.

The afternoon session at UNCW will be preceded by morning activities involving elected officials and law enforcement officers as actors in Violence in the Prideland, an original play by Judge J. H. Corpening. The play will be performed before 100 second through fifth graders from Rachel Freeman Elementary School at 8:30 a.m. at the New Hanover County Courthouse.

At 10:30 a.m. in the UNCW Warwick Center ballroom, the students will participate in a variety of interactive activities to promote safety conducted by New Hanover County Schools Safe Schools Program, the Domestic Violence Shelter, Coastal Horizons Center, DREAMS Center for Arts Education and others. Law enforcement officers and UNCW students will participate as volunteers. Health, human services and legal professionals will arrive at 12:30 p.m. to eat a bag lunch with children.

Internationally recognized forensic pediatrician Sharon Cooper will discuss the impact of sexual exploitation and victimization adolescent at 1:15 p.m. District Court Judge Rebecca Blackmore will present "Gangs in the Courtroom and Community," at 2:30 p.m. At 3:30 p.m., actors from the DREAMS Center for the Performing Arts will present monologues from HOPE, a play about violence.

The Youth SAFETY Summit is sponsored by UNCW's Division for Public Service and Continuing Studies in collaboration with the Honorable Judge J. Corpening, New Hanover County District Attorney's Office, New Hanover County Bar Association, the Junior League of Wilmington and other organizations. The cost is $20 a person, includes snacks and beverages. Bring a bag lunch. Individuals can register online at uncw.edu/publicservice or by calling 910.962.3195.

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Media contact: Lynn Smithdeal - 910.962.3426, smithdeall@uncw.edu