Durham Family Court Clinic receives funding from Ministry of the Attorney General to Assist Youth Victims The Durham Family Court Clinic (DFCC) has received a $140,150 grant from the Ministry of the Attorney General through the Community Grants Program and the Victims' Justice Fund. The DFCC's 15-month project will create an innovative community-based program designed to assist youth, primarily twelve to eighteen years of age, who are victims, or who are at-risk of being victims, of sexual expolitation or involvement in prostitution within Durham Region. The grant will fund the creation and delivery of an integrated series of psycho-educational workshops within the community. A special effort will be made to identify and meet the needs of Durham Region's northern communities and those organizations that provide frontline support to youth-at-risk, including street youth. Bonnie Gagné, Executive Director of the DFCC, comments that, "the agency is very grateful to the Ministry of the Attorney General for granting us this opportunity. Our community partners in this project, including the Durham Regional Police Services, recognize the need to address this serious issue." Workshop topics will address victim issues that manifest as a result of a history of neglect, physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse, with topics including substance abuse, addiction, self harm, low self esteem and some mental health illness. The program will be designed and coordinated by Laura LeRoux Olaoye of DFCC. Workshops will focus on developing a foundation for change within a theraputic setting to assist youth in becoming more informed and better able to make positive choices to help reduce their risk of victimization. Connecting youth to appropriate community resources and developing networks of support to promote ongoing positive change is also a goal of the program. The DFCC is a charitable organization that has served the needs of Durham Region's children, youth and families for over 25 years. To learn more about this important work please visit www.dfcc.org.