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Klobuchar Secures Federal Funding for National Child Protection Center in Winona

September 9, 2008

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced that she has secured nearly $740,000 in funding for the National Child Protection Training Center, located at Winona State University.

Klobuchar cosponsored a special appropriation that will provide $737,501 in federal funding to the Center through the U.S. Department of Justice.  The federal funding will be used for several projects, including the development of a model undergraduate curriculum at 20 universities as well as a model medical school curriculum to better prepare doctors to address child abuse.

“Kids who suffer from abuse need all the protection we can offer,” said Klobuchar.  “This Center is a vital national resource for police, prosecutors, social workers and other child protection professionals.  The new federal funding will allow the Center to extend its educational activities to reach important new audiences, including doctors-in-training.” 

“Senator Amy Klobuchar has been a real leader on child protection issues throughout her career as a prosecutor and now in the Senate,” said Ted Thompson, President of the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children.  “NAPSAC’s National Child Protection Training Center (NCPTC) program, based at Winona State University, is being funded in part by resources that Senator Klobuchar, Senator Norm Coleman, Congressman Tim Walz and Congressman Jim Oberstar all worked hard to secure – their collective and bi-partisan effort and leadership means that we will continue to be able to train thousands of front line child professionals and help educate undergraduates going into law enforcement, nursing, social services and other careers involving child protection.  With 1 in 5 American children being victims of childhood sexual abuse alone before they turn 18, efforts such as those at the NCPTC are a critical component of a plan to rid the U.S. of child abuse within three generations.”

Klobuchar served for eight years as the chief prosecutor for Hennepin County, serving more than one million residents in Minneapolis and 45 suburban communities.  Her responsibilities included prosecuting child abuse cases.  She also sponsored an initiative to improve the response to child abuse by strengthening the working relationships among police, prosecutors, child protection workers, educators and health care providers.

The National Child Protection Training Center is a partnership between Winona State University and the National Association to Prevent the Sexual Abuse of Children The Center provides training to child protection professionals across the United States.  Each year, the Center’s trainers travel to every region of the country and train approximately 10,000 prosecutors, law enforcement officers, social workers, and other child protection professionals and organizations.

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