Dave Harty and Chad Bennett of About Face win Alberta Solicitor General Crime Prevention Awards
Dave Harty, a retired City of Calgary Police Sergeant and Chad Bennett of the Impact Society were recently honoured by the Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security in recognition of their work on the About Face program; a program which is proudly supported by the Intact Foundation. The Solicitor General awards recognize Albertans who have contributed to making their neighbourhoods safer, for helping at-risk youth and raising awareness about crime prevention.
The awards were given to recipients in a ceremony held at Government House in Edmonton May 7, 2010; only 12 individuals and groups were honoured by receiving the award, including both Dave Harty and Chad Bennett.
As the creator of About Face, Mr. Harty has worked diligently to assist high-risk youth, using his background as a police sergeant to help bring law enforcement officials and at-risk youth in need of mentoring together. His partner at the Impact Society, Mr. Bennett, has also worked to help high risk youth identify their strengths, help them make better choices and therefore, to improve their lives overall. About Face conducts presentations at schools to reach these goals; they also hold youth diversion workshops designed to offer guidance to youth whose actions have brought them into conflict with authorities such as their parents, teachers or police. These four hour interactive workshops are led by police officers who show youth the effects of crime and encourage them to take responsibility for their own actions; they also help youth identify their strengths, how they can contribute to society, how to move forward and make better decisions in the future, and finally to achieve their best.
Youth are referred to the program by police officers who come into contact with them through their everyday work or through Youth Justice Committees, schools or parents.
The Intact Foundation has been a proud supporter of the About Face program for a number of years. Because we believe in making the communities where we live and work safer, healthier and happier, supporting the About Face program fits well with Intact’s new social responsibility strategy. The program’s creator and his partner at the Impact Society have been recognized by the province for working to build safer communities, a goal Intact Insurance supports in common! Dave Harty from About Face explains, “the Intact Foundation’s support for the program has been invaluable; largely because of their support, we have successfully delivered the program to over 50,000 kids in Alberta. We couldn’t have accomplished this without Intact’s support and look forward to a continued partnership to educate, empower and inspire many more kids in the future.”
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