Panama City, FL – The work of the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center’s Community Outreach Program came full circle today with the Lewd and Lascivious Molestation conviction of Johnny Ray Strickland of Fountain. Strickland was arrested in 2017 by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office after a nine-year-old third grader came forward, following a classroom outreach session, and disclosed sexual abuse by her neighbor.
The goal of the Gulf Coast CAC’s Community Outreach Program is to provide child maltreatment education to children, parents, school staff, first responders, mentors, medical personnel, civic organizations and others who works with or has contact with children in an effort to identify victims of crime and assist in assuring safety and support.
The Gulf Coast CAC’s Community Outreach Advocates currently facilitate the Monique Burr Foundation (MBF) Child Safety Matters prevention curriculum in schools in Bay and Calhoun Counties. Since October 2016, approximately 15,000 children, grades K-8th have received prevention education through the program. In that time, almost 200 children have been empowered by the program to make a disclosure to one of the two advocates following classroom session.
Learn more about the program by calling the Gulf Coast CAC at (850) 872-7760 or by visiting the MBF website at mbfchildsafetymatters.org
