Massachusetts Citizens for Children
14 Beacon St - 7th flr
Boston, MA 02108
617-742-8555
benita@masskids.org
http://www.masskids.org
Benita Danzing, KidsCount Coordinator
Massachusetts Citizens for Children (MCC) is the oldest state-based child advocacy organization in the country. Our mission is to improve the lives of the state's most vulnerable children through advocacy by concerned citizens. It was founded in 1959 by Martha May Eliot, MD, who served as Chief of the U.S. Children's Bureau and held influential positions in both the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). With active support from Governor Foster Furculo, they established MCC as a permanent, independent citizens' voice for Massachusetts' most vulnerable children.
Over its nearly 50-year history, the organization's work has been grounded in the belief that all Massachusetts children have the inherent right -
To be safe from abuse, neglect, and violence;
To be economically secure and free from poverty;
To receive quality medical and preventive care;
To learn in quality child care and school settings; and
To live in caring families and healthy communities.
Since 1994, MCC has been the site of Massachusetts Kids Count - an Annie E. Casey Foundation-supported initiative to tract the status of children in the United States. In 1986 it was selected as the Massachusetts Chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America. Its current focus is to prevent physical child abuse through the work of the Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Center. It is lead agency for the Massachusetts Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Partnership and staffs the Enough Abuse Campagin - a statewide public engagement intiative to educate and mobilize parents, professionals and communities to prevent child sexual abuse. MCC also serves as the Massachusetts member of Voices for America's Children, a national network of state and city multi-issue child advocacy organizations.