As an organization we value, diversity, community, safety and education

 

STREETWIZE SAFETY CENTER

The Boston Society of Vulcans, is inviting the community and philanthropic donors to partner in the development of an innovative facility that will serve to fill the educational and social gap for employment, life and safety education for children and adults in the Boston area.

The facility, called a Safety Center, will be a facility through which children, the elderly and low income communities will receive hands on, interactive training for everyday safety and good citizenship issues, thus enabling residents to reduce their risk of preventable injuries and deaths through fire, crime or other related emergencies.

The center will also provide recruitment opportunities for teenagers and adults to receive valuable employment training instruction, which will enable them to be successful in securing employment in a public safety career.


WHAT IS THE NEED?

Unintentional injuries remain the leading cause of death among children ages 14 and under in Massachusetts. The top four causes of injuries of children are motor vehicle incidents, fire, drowning and crime. Children from low-income families are at greater risk for fire & crime related death and injury, due to factors such as a lack of working smoke alarms, substandard housing, and economic constraints on providing adequate adult supervision and other resources.

Last year, in Massachusetts only, children playing with matches, lighters and other heat sources caused 710 reported fires, 48 civilian injuries, over 30 fire service injuries and an estimated dollar loss of nearly $3 million dollars.

The injury or death of a child has emotional, financial, social effects felt not only by the family, but friends, neighbors and society as a whole. Older adults (>65) are also at risk for injuries. In Massachusetts older adults have a disproportionate high risk of fire death ­ a rate of 2.3, and statistical data for crime related issues are just as high. The current population of Boston is 51% of color that includes an immigrant population with language barriers.

In a 2003 incident in Dorchester, a raging fire gutted a three family home belonging to a Vietnamese family. Due to the language barrier, it could not be communicated that family members were trapped in the building. As a result, a young child and grandparent lost their lives. Other similar incidents have been documented over the past five years in Boston.

The risk of fire & crime related incidents for young children and adults over 65 is noteworthy and a cause for concern in the state of Massachusetts. A comprehensive and innovative approach to safety training is needed to reduce the risk to these high-risk populations.


WHAT IS A SAFETY VILLAGE?

A Safety Village is a place where children and adults can learn the rules of the road while navigating through a life-size mini-town with buildings and roadways. Visitors of the Center are given hands-on training of proper safety behavior on bikes, battery-powered vehicles and with their own feet.

A photo of the Safety Village

Through hands-on training participants will develop a positive attitude toward safety. Participants will be taught their safety lessons in a classroom setting and then practice what is taught under the supervision of police, fire and other safety volunteers. Areas of safety curriculum will include burn prevention/fire safety, pedestrian safety, bicycle safety, child passenger and vehicular safety, appropriate use of "911", school and bus safety, basic first aid, disaster prevention, home hazard identification and crime prevention.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The BSV is developing an advisory board of directors for the Center. The advisory board will be reflective of the target population in the city. The Center will be managed by an executive director with oversight by the board of Directors and the BSV. Kids playing and learning in the Safety Village The project will involve development of the "Village" within a 7,500 sq ft garage located in the Dorchester area of Boston.

The overall design would consist of a two-story house for fire and crime prevention scenarios, classrooms, office space, a resource center, fitness center, bicycle lab, small food court and a scaled-to-fit model city. The design of the model city buildings will be garage sized buildings representative of the housing stock in the Boston Area. The "city" would include 10 to 15 scaled sized buildings, roadways, traffic lights and signs, an operational railway crossing, with a school bus station, and a police station, fire station and ambulance bay that will also serve as mini museums.

Children on the Safety Center courseBased on rough estimates of other safety village construction, the Safety Village is projected to cost 1.5 million to develop. Donations, grants and fundraisers would support the general construction and operation of the project. As well as funding through community partnerships, and in-kind gifts from various agencies and organizations. BSV believes it is possible to save lives and prevent property loss through comprehensive life safety training. Prevention educated children, leads to prevention conscience parents.

We have countless stories of children who have learned and used the fire prevention and other training to save the lives of family, friends and neighbors from certain danger. The impetus for BSV safety training project is to make a difference for communities that have historically suffered great human and property loses from fire, crime and other dangers. We know that intervention before a crisis is less costly and has a more profound effect to individuals, families and communities.

Our motto is simple like other safety centers, but clear "TEACH ME so I will know". The safety facility will be a vital means to teach significant prevention messages in Boston. We hope that you can support this visionary project.