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SAFE2TELL SELECTED AS FIRST LEADERSHIP AWARD RECIPIENT
 The Colorado Trust’s first annual John R. Moran, Jr. Grantee Leadership Award was awarded to the Safe2Tell program. Safe2Tell – developed in response to recommendations from the Columbine Commission’s report and The Trust’s Safe Communities~Safe Schools Initiative – provides students in all Colorado schools an increased ability to both prevent and report violence by making anonymous calls to 1-877-542-SAFE. The $25,000 award – created in honor of The Trust’s former, long-time CEO – recognizes exemplary leadership by a current Trust grantee.
In presenting the award to Susan Payne, Executive Director of Safe2Tell, Irene M. Ibarra, President and CEO of The Colorado Trust noted that “The Safe2Tell program offers hope to individuals and communities at a time when the escalation of school and campus violence seems overwhelming. Not only has this small, but powerful organization averted and resolved numerous violent situations across Colorado, school administrators and law enforcement officials in over a dozen other states also are looking at how to replicate early successes of the Safe2Tell program.”
The presentation was made during a ceremony at the State Capitol on May 3 when Governor Bill Ritter signed into law Senate Bill 07-197, which guarantees the anonymity of callers to the Safe2Tell Hotline. Anonymity is one of the key features of the hotline as young people often don’t share information for fear of retribution.
The Colorado Trust first funded the development and start-up of the Safe2Tell program in 2003 with a three-year grant of $375,000 and provided an additional three-year, $375,000 grant in 2006. Safe2Tell also receives in-kind and financial support from the Colorado State Patrol and other local and statewide organizations.
For additional information about the Safe2Tell program, contact Ed Lucero, Senior Program Officer, 303-837-1200, ed@coloradotrust.org.
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