The conference features workshops and plenary sessions for new, intermediate, and advanced victim advocates. Topics include counseling and advocacy, restorative justice, program management, spiritual and mental health services, homicide survivors, domestic violence and sexual assault, special concerns for children, elderly, and victims with disabilities, public policy, working with the media, law enforcement and prosecution models, self-care, and burnout. Workshops include: "Approaches for Reaching Survivors with Disabilities Who are Socially Isolated" and "Project SAFE: Working Together to End Violence Against People with Disabilities."

The annual conference will take place at Jackson Hole. Please visit the Division's web site for the latest information.

During Crime Prevention Month, government agencies, civic groups, schools, businesses, and youth organizations showcase their accomplishments, reach out to educate and empower the public through educational campaigns, and explore new partnerships that build stronger communities where crime cannot survive.

The annual event raises awareness across the nation of the on-going need to end domestic violence. Please visit the Coalition's web site for additional information.

The 4th Annual Opening Doors Conference: Serving Crime Victims with Disabilities is an attempt to educate the community about the service needs for persons with disabilities that are crime victims and to educate the persons with disabilites about their rights and the services available to them as a crime victim. Workshop tracks for consumers of disability services, sevice providers and advocates, law enforcement, and the media will be provided in an effort to bring together important sectors of the community that utilize services, provide services, offer protective services, and report stories about crime.

This fall, grassroots leaders in communities across the country will participate in NAMI’s premiere public awareness event, Mental Illness Awareness Week. This week is set aside as the time each year that NAMI leaders work in tandem to raise awareness, promote understanding, and take action. NAMI’s MIAW 2008 Tool Kit offers resources, ideas, and items to assist grassroots efforts. A resource guide offering activities and ideas is available on the site. Included this year are items that are easy to download, personalize, and print including fact sheets, posters, and stickers. Pre-printed materials will no longer be available via the NAMI store, and leaders are directed to the Tool Kit’s materials for easy reproduction. Press release templates, including sample letters to the editor and other media outreach materials, are also available on the site.

NCD’s spring quarterly meeting will be held October 6-8, 2008, in Kansas City, MO. These meetings are open to the public. People with disabilities are encouraged to attend and participate in the daily public comment segments of the meetings. The agendas will be posted on NCD's web site prior to each meeting.

The conference will focus on inclusion and independent living. Workshops will include: Consumer Abuse Awareness Team, Predator Awareness Task Force, Feeling Safe - Being Safe: Personal Emergency Planning, and The Abuse Prevention Project.

Please visit the web site for information in 2008 on how families, students, schools, organizations and others groups can be a partner for bullying prevention.