Awareness | Prevention | Restoration
Creating an impact by increasing awareness, deploying innovative prevention strategies, and supporting restorative programs.
$460,000+
In Grants Awarded
75,000+
Students Receiving Prevention Education
25,000
Child Protection Guides Distributed
Prevention through education
We are on a mission to provide access to evidence-based, prevention education to every K-12 student
Child abuse and child sexual abuse prevention education for K-12 students is an important first step to stopping abuse, empowering children, educating parents, and heightening awareness for educators. Together with our training partners across Indiana and the Carolinas, kNot Today is helping to bring about a holistic approach to abuse prevention.
Prevention Partnerships
Educators play a critical role in the identification and training against child sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking; yet, training on the issue is not standardized, accessible, mandated or funded in most private and public school systems across the U.S. We partner with Child Advocacy Centers, prevention education curriculum providers and K-12 school faculty and staff to scale access to evidence-based education for all students.
Implementing Prevention Education in Schools
kNot Today provides grants to support age appropriate and research and evidence-based instruction on child abuse and child sexual abuse to students in kindergarten through grade 12. Instruction on child abuse and child sexual abuse may be delivered by a trained school faculty member such as a school counselor, or any other person/outside organization with training and expertise in the area of child abuse and child sexual abuse.
Supporting Prevention Mandates With Funding
32 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws mandating evidence-based child sexual abuse prevention education programs in schools, only 14 require training for all school employees and all students. Many of these mandates are passed without corresponding funding. We are working with partners and legislators to attach funding to the Indiana state mandate (IC 20-30-5-5.7) as well as pass a prevention education mandate for students in the state of North Carolina.
OUR WORK: PREVENTION
Ensuring strong preventive strategies
Our hope is not only that we can educate and engage the public on this ongoing epidemic, but that we can prevent it from happening. From educational pieces for parents, caregivers and educators to purchasing Electronic Detection K-9s that can sniff out hidden technology, our mission is to see the statistics lower.
Law Enforcement K-9s
We are encouraged by the innovation coming out of Jordan Detection, a K-9 training facility in Indianapolis. We have purchased two Electronic Detection K-9s to work with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Indiana and Wisconsin to assist in searching out sim cards/technology usually undetectable by humans. This alone has led to the recovery of countless pieces of incriminating evidence during Federal/State search warrants and has led to the implication and prosecution of suspected pedophiles and sexual predators targeting children and those who are most likely to become hands-on abusers. We will continue to pursue opportunities to place these K-9s with law enforcement handlers.
Law Enforcement Technology & Forensics
We are passionate about providing best in class technology and resources to law enforcement to solve more cases- faster. It is our goal to continue providing mobile forensic response units that will allow investigators to work efficiently from crime scenes and software that will speed the collection and unlock greater depth of data from digital devices.
“The existence and significance of digital evidence, in all categories of criminal investigations, will continue to be recognized and with proper collection and exploitation, will lead to more successful prosecutions. Having the digital forensics capability within our local control is critical to keeping the completion of significant criminal cases within acceptable time frames.”
Mike Pedersen, Major, Fishers Police Department
Child Protection Guides
We set out to provide parents, grandparents, caregivers, teachers- who are in positions to stop abuse, exploitation, and trafficking before it begins- with the basics in one, easy to consume resource. We created the Parent and Caregiver Guide in partnership with experts in pediatrics with experience in sexual abuse care, lawyers, teachers, survivors, parents of survivors, the FBI, and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Indiana Task Force. We followed that up with the Educator Guide in partnership with experts in school administration, social work/counseling, law enforcement, school safety, survivor services and education in the classroom.
Be a Catalyst
The Child Protection Grant
kNot Today has had the honor of awarding over $360,000 in grants to 20 amazing organizations in the last two years through our Child Protection Grant as well as through Prevention Education grants . But this is just the beginning. We believe that part of our role as an organization is to be a catalyst. That means finding, vetting and partnering with other organizations who are making a big impact to protect and restore children who have been sexually abused, exploited or trafficked.
A few of our past grant partners
kNot Today makes strategic investments in programs that offer preventive strategies and/or proactive initiatives in one or more of the following focus areas that align with the organization’s mission to end the sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking of children.
Assist law enforcement agencies with the tools and technology to expand and scale their efforts to protect children.
Promote access to education in schools that will advance the identification of children in need.
Provide educational and workforce opportunities that help survivors reach their full potential.
Ensure survivors have access to long-term, restorative care and their basic needs are met through reliable housing, education and transportation.
CREATING MASS AWARENESS
Shining a Light in Dark Places
kNot Today has a unique platform to share the scale of this issue and the many measures that can be taken to end it. Every person has a role to play in this fight to protect children from sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, we want to help you find yours!
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Using Our Platform
Coach and Linda Reich have stepped into their new position with the Carolina Panthers. This move presents a natural opportunity to expand the work of the kNot Today foundation to the Carolinas. We look forward to forging new partnerships with leaders in Carolina politics, education, law enforcement and survivor services as well as the passionate fans of the Carolina Panthers to protect every child from sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking.
02
Community Engagement
Every year we host a series of events such as our ‘Courage to Compete’ Bowling Fundraiser in Indianapolis to bring together politicians, law enforcement personnel, advocacy groups, community leaders and the press. We know that together we can achieve more. These events gives us the opportunity to share the mission while engaging with one another in a fun and competitive environment.
03
Building Partnerships
We are always looking for innovative ways to serve and support advocates on this issue.