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Prevent Child Abuse America is calling on the corporate sector to step up and invest in healthy families.
Now child abuse impacts 1 in 7 kids in the US, and business leaders can make a difference when it comes to prevention.
Now the national organization with local affiliates across the country helps channel $750 million back into communities each year.
Joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange to talk about the 1% of prevention.
Initiative is Dr.
Melissa T.
Merrick, president and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America and a leading expert in adverse childhood experiences.
Melissa, great to have you here.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Oh, great to be with you.
Well, those statistics are staggering.
So what role can the corporate sector actually play in this when it comes to prevention?
Oh, there's so many roles the corporate sector can play.
I'll just say that prevention is for everyone.
We think sometimes about preventing child abuse that save those kids, but really what we're talking about is investing in families to really strengthen our economy, right?
We strengthen our current workforce when we have things like paid family leave or on-site childcare.
These things are proven to reduce stress on families, help them come to work, be productive, but also we're building the brains of the future workforce, right?
So prevention is really a stability.
Strategy to for families, for communities, and for economies.
Yeah, and Melissa, I do want to ask you what does prevention actually look like?
Can you walk us through this?
Sure.
So we know that a major risk factor for child abuse perpetration is just extreme stressors on families.
These can be things like economic stressors, social pressures, and we have systems that are really not designed to keep families strong.
We wait for them to be in crisis.
Just to save them, right, and that's way too costly.
So when we invest in prevention, we mean that all families have what they need in their own communities delivered with love and trust and respect without stigma before they're in crisis.
So employers, for example, like all of our wellness programs, all of our benefits programs, right, those things really make a difference at alleviating that stress and keeping families healthy and strong.
Yeah, and I'm glad you brought that up because we think about the US economy and how prices are rising, and that can lead to stress, especially emotional stress.
So explain to us what you mean when you're talking about investing.
Yeah, well, investing in prevention means making sure again that things are that we lighten the load, if you will, on families, on our workforce, right?
So things like paid family leave.
Or on-site child care.
These are things transportation, affordable housing, all of these things really have evidence of keeping families strong.
And you know, every dollar that we spend in prevention, we actually save $10 to $12 on the downstream costs, right?
We're as the US pays over $30 billion in foster care, right?
We wait for families and then we use this resource.
Opposed to having on-site home visiting services for new families to navigate new parenthood or affordable housing, child care, and those kinds of things.
So really there's a whole like host of programs and solutions that prevent Child Abuse America and all of our local affiliates across the country really invest in and again put that $750 million back into communities to keep families strong.
And Melissa, I do want to learn more about the 1% to prevent initiative.
So tell us about those.
Yeah, well, I mean, I'm awestruck being in this building today and on the New York Stock Exchange floor and seeing all of these companies on the ticker, and when we think about the corporate investment, when we invest even just 1%, we could prevent.
A whole host of child abuse and neglect, and that means again investing in our current workforce and our future pipeline we're contributing to the economy and we're saving lives but also, you know.
Seeing that prosperity for lifelong and across generations.
And Melissa, while I have you here, tell us what companies can actually do besides donate to make an actual difference.
Yeah, donation is of course a key way, but also things like what benefit services you have for your, your teams, right, on-site childcare.
I know I talked about a lot, but so moms can nurse their Babies and continue to bond when they come back to work.
That is proven strategy to reduce that stress and also build that healthy brain development for kids, home visiting services, food pantries, economic and concrete supports.
There's really a lot that can be done.
And finally, Melissa, before I let you go, tell us about your story.
Why is this so important to you?
Yeah, well, you know, I was trained as a child clinical psycho.
Just so I was used to helping families once they were already in crisis.
And when I became a mom myself, a working mom, that wasn't good for my own mental health, right?
So really wanted to get up, you know, upstream and then learned public health, worked 10 years at the CDC as a scientist and recognized that when we pass one good policy, and that could be a big policy like paid family leave, it could be a corporate. like flexible work schedules for our teams, these things actually keep families thriving, able to come to work, able to be productive, and contribute to the economy.
So really it's much more filling to be on the upstream side, making sure all families have what they need to thrive.
Well, Melissa, it was great having you here.
Thank you so much for joining us here at the New York Stock Exchange and for sharing your story.
Thank you.
So happy to be with you.
Thank you.
