Safe Kids Buckle Up, a program of Safe Kids Worldwide and General Motors, has teamed up with Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) to provide child safety education to a broader group of youth who are at high risk of being injured in and around an automobile.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death to children ages 2 to 14. Additional children are also injured or killed in non-traffic related vehicle incidents, such as backovers, trunk entrapments and heat stroke after being left unattended in a vehicle.
The association enables Safe Kids Buckle Up to bring its roster of safety programs and activities directly to children and their families at local Boys & Girls Clubs around the United States. BGCA's vast network of more than 4,000 neighborhood-based Clubs serves some 4.8 million young people in all 50 states and U.S. military bases worldwide. Meanwhile, Safe Kids has more than 600 local coalitions and chapters nationwide.
The collaboration, announced today at the GM Renaissance Center, coincides with the 10-year anniversary of Safe Kids Buckle Up programs, which teach families about keeping children safe in and around vehicles.
Despite reaching millions through the Safe Kids Buckle Up program, recent research shows that essential injury prevention interventions are still not reaching enough high-risk families, including some African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and low-income families. The injury rate for African-American children ages 0 to 14 is more than twice the rate of injury for Caucasian children (per 100,000) as motor vehicle occupants, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Hispanic children ages 0 to 14 also have a 25 percent higher injury death rate from motor vehicles when compared to non-Hispanic children.
In addition, research shows that children ages 6 to 10 who do not properly fit into an adult safety belt are reluctant to use booster seats in vehicles, which could lead to more serious injuries in the event of a crash.
More than 60 percent of BGCA's members are from minority communities, and 88 percent are 15 years old or younger.
"This new association with Boys & Girls Clubs of America is particularly important because it will allow our coalitions to bring these programs directly to a larger number of underserved families; we can't expect children who are at a high risk for injury to come to us," said Dr. Martin Eichelberger, founder and chairman, Safe Kids Worldwide, the parent organization of Safe Kids Buckle Up. "It's a natural collaboration. Boys & Girls Clubs of America has the families and we have the life-saving information."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is a strong supporter of the Safe Kids Buckle Up program and the administrator of NHTSA, Nicole Nason, recently became a certified child passenger safety technician by completing a rigorous three-day training course.
"Keeping all children safer in vehicles is one of our top priorities," said Nason. "Programs like Safe Kids Buckle Up have helped change the culture of child car seat safety in this country and are essential to ensure we protect our most precious passengers."
Nancy Ali, the vice president of development for BGCA agreed.
"With the help of Safe Kids we can now bring additional health and life skills training directly to families through our Club staff and members," Ali said. "Clubs provide safe places for kids to learn and grow, and traffic safety is one of those life-saving skills that needs to be taught early and often in a child's life."
Financial support from the GM Foundation allows more than 600 local Safe Kids coalitions and chapters to provide safety programs and activities at locations across the country, now including BGCA community centers. These programs are offered at no cost to either non-profit organizations or the families served. GM is the sole corporate sponsor of Safe Kids Buckle Up -- the longest-running corporate/non-profit partnership in child passenger safety. The automaker and its foundation have provided $50 million in financial support and vehicles over the past decade through 2009.
"GM and Safe Kids have worked together to help educate millions of families on how best to protect their most precious cargo in and around vehicles," said Rod Gillum, GM vice president, Corporate Responsibility and Diversity. "While it's an achievement that we're very proud of, we recognize that the job is not finished.
"That's why we're honored to support this bridge between Safe Kids Buckle Up and Boys & Girls Clubs of America to bring safety programs directly to children and families in need of this information. In fact, I cannot think of a better way to celebrate a decade of community outreach."
To coincide with this announcement, GM and Safe Kids Buckle up are hosting a special event on Saturday, Aug. 11, next to the GM Renaissance Center to celebrate 10 years of safety programs. The event will feature child safety seat check ups by certified child passenger safety technicians, hands-on educational stations for children, food and a variety of activities that will be fun for the whole family. Nearly 100 additional Safe Kids Buckle Up events are taking place at hospitals, GM dealerships and community centers across the country to correspond with Saturday's national celebration in Detroit.