Founded in 1993 by Jeffrey D. Jacobs, Civitas' charter mission was to educate front-line professionals working on behalf of abused and neglected children. Implementing that mission were three unique training programs in law (Loyola University Chicago School of Law), medicine (Baylor College of Medicine) and social work (University of Michigan School of Social Work). Although Civitas has expanded its mission in recent years, those specialized programs continue today, resulting in hundreds of front-line professionals equipped with a core knowledge of early childhood development.
With a planning grant in 1997 from The Irving Harris Foundation, Civitas explored ways to leverage its core assets to benefit a broader audience of adults living and working with children. The result of that process was the restructuring of Civitas into an organization that uses communication and media strategies to reach millions of adults each year with essential information about child development.
Track Our Progress
1993 Civitas is established as a foundation that supports graduate students focusing on child maltreatment in the fields of law, medicine and social work.
1994 Civitas programs established at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
1996 First class of Civitas Fellows graduates.
1997 Civitas initiates a strategic planning process to evaluate its mission and strategies.
1999 Civitas launches communications initiative to broadly disseminate information about early childhood development.
2000 Civitas produces and distributes Begin with Love to 3.6 million new mothers.
Civitas commissions the study What Grown Ups Understand About Child Development: A National Benchmark Survey.
2001 Civitas produces and distributes Grandparenting: Enriching Lives.
2002 Civitas releases Understanding Children: an essential guidebook for children 0-3.
Civitas publishes Right On Course, a handbook for teachers on trauma and maltreatment and its impact in the classroom
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