Prevention Education, Inc.

As a community leader in the area child welfare and safety, our effectiveness is most directly impacted by our ability to deliver quality programs and services that meet evolving community needs. Our prevention programs are based on an empowerment philosophy and seek to reduce children's vulnerability by teaching important personal safety concepts through age-appropriate messaging on assault- and bully-prevention, sexual abuse, teen dating, empathy and respect. As the exclusive New Jersey Child Assault Prevention program designee for Mercer County since 1985, PEI Kids has delivered children’s prevention-education programs in Mercer County schools continuously for 35 years.

Our specialized Intervention programs serve the areas most vulnerable youth, including adjudicated youth, children placed in foster care due to abuse or neglect, and child victims of sexual abuse -- helping them to process trauma while also providing tools and support necessary to heal, recover, and prevent future victimization. Additionally, PEI Kids serves as lead agency of the Greater Mercer Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse – part of the statewide and national Enough Abuse Campaign – educating adults in how to prevent, identify, and respond appropriately to child sexual abuse.

PEI Kids is the only agency in the county to categorically address child safety through a seamless continuum of prevention and intervention services and support. This uniquely positions us as the area’s leading provider in the area of child safety and physical well-being. Our programs and services are directly related to PEI Kids fundamental work to address the root causes of violence and abuse in children's lives.

PEI Kids' intervention programming exemplifies constructive engagement and partnership with youth-serving systems, including school districts, child welfare, and juvenile justice. Our Crisis Intervention for Child Victims of Sexual Abuse program, the only program of its kind in the county, provides immediate, professional Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) to help child victims heal and recover. The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office refers over 95% of child sexual abuse cases to PEI Kids for immediate crisis counseling.

Our Juvenile Intervention Services (JIS) programs provide adjudicated and at-risk youth with the skills they need to work toward more productive futures and reduce future involvement in the justice system. We have formal relationships with Mercer County Family Court and the Juvenile Probation Unit to expeditiously process juvenile-justice-system referrals and engage delinquent and at-risk teens referred to our programs. Additionally, our Council Against Youth Violence (CAYV) provides comprehensive victims services for youth impacted by community violence through a multi-agency collaborative for which PEI Kids is the lead agency.

We also work closely with DCPP to expedite referrals into our Family Support Services programs for children in foster care. Finally, we maintain collaborative relationships with other agencies like Womanspace (lead domestic violence agency) and Catholic Charities (family counseling) & ISLES (programming for youth disengaged from school) to ensure that our clients and theirs receive seamless and effective treatment and support services.

PEI Kids is a highly-regarded community-based organization serving the central New Jersey region for over 35 years. PEI Kids’ history dates back to 1985, when our founders, who worked at a rape crisis center, discovered there were no prevention programs for children in Mercer County to teach them about child sexual assault prevention strategies and to provide intervention and counseling services for child victims of sexual abuse. Since that time, PEI Kids’ programs have grown in response to needs identified by parents, educators, community leaders, and local officials.

Today, PEI Kids serves over 10,000 children and their families annually. All of PEI Kids’ programs are focused on empowering and helping children – the most vulnerable among us – to stay safe. PEI Kids has seven core programs, nine full-time and 43 part-time employees, a 15-member Board of Trustees, 45 volunteers, and strong, collaborative relationships with local law enforcement, government agencies, Family Court, schools, community groups, and social services organizations. Originally called Prevention Education, Inc., we subsequently changed our name to PEI Kids to better reflect the range of services we provide—including Prevention, Education, and Intervention—for vulnerable and at-risk children/youth throughout the region.

Over the years, PEI Kids has developed an excellent reputation by responding to the needs of the community with meaningful programs and by delivering services with care and integrity. Through 35 years serving the community, PEI Kids has developed a strong infrastructure, responsive organizational culture, and effective programming and operations. PEI Kids is committed to maintaining our role as a community leader in preventing and responding to child assault, sexual abuse, youth delinquency, violence and trauma, and their devastating effects.

PEI Kids Strategic Plan reflects the input of the Board, staff, and management of PEI Kids and provides direction for addressing the key issues impacting the agency and the populations PEI Kids serves. Strategic goals are focused on 1) providing quality services that are relevant to the needs of our population, 2) positioning PEI Kids within the rich tapestry of youth programming to most effectively utilize the agency’s strengths and resources for maximum impact, and 3) strengthening organizational capacity and sustainability to deliver on our mission well into the future. The four strategic priorities are: 1) Sustain program excellence, 2) Strengthen organizational capacity, 3) Reinforce and expand PEI Kids’ leadership role and impact, and 4) Promote sound governance.

Program excellence. PEI Kids is highly esteemed in the community for providing quality services that are relevant to the community’s needs and effective in achieving desired outcomes. PEI Kids continues to sustain program excellence through quality programming and execution and by retaining highly-qualified staff who delivers evidence-based programming with integrity and fidelity. We continually update our methods, assessment tools, and professional development to ensure that we are implementing best practices across the disciplines within which we operate -- education, juvenile justice, clinical mental health, and child welfare.

Organizational capacity. Strengthening organizational capacity is an ongoing endeavor. In 2019 we upgraded our IT infrastructure, and in 2020 we made significant investment in remote technologies -- including a VOIP-based phone system and converting our conference room to a zoom room to facilitate live-remote meetings and virtual trainings -- in part, to enable remote delivery of our programming consistent with the health practices recommended during the COVID pandemic. This investment enabled us to continue providing direct services, without interruption, through the pandemic; and has supported our efforts to maintain levels of service since that time.

Expanding leadership role. PEI Kids has significant subject-matter expertise and its leadership team is highly regarded as a valued community resource, often providing training for other organizations. In 2020, we launched a weekly webinar series led by our Program Directors to showcase our considerable expertise, reinforce our position as a community leader in child welfare and abuse prevention, and to benefit parents, youth-serving professionals and members of our community. Information on the launch of this initiative is available at peikids.org/webinars.

In 2023, we're expanding our footprint by establishing a Child & Family Wellness Center, a victims services center for children/youth in crisis. In addition to 1:1 crisis counseling, the center will provide space & programming for community trainings and youth wellness activities such as support groups and trauma-informed yoga.