Rockville, MD - The New Horizons Support Network, Inc., a local non-profit educational organization, is launching a countywide violence prevention effort. The project will kickoff with a town meeting Thursday, June 8 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bauer Drive Recreation Center. This event is scheduled to be the first in a series of four forums on violence prevention in the county. The highly sophisticated "New Horizons Community Development and Violence Prevention Model" will be introduced. When first founded in 1994, New Horizons pledged to take a pro-active position on "creating safe, loving spaces everywhere." It continues that mission today with this current project.

"It has been a steady uphill battle to gain public acknowledgement that there is any serious lack of safety and security in homes, schools, businesses and organizations. However, since the tragedy at Columbine High School, as well as similar catastrophes at other schools and in other communities across the country, the tide has changed dramatically. The recent highly publicized Million Mom March and other events poignantly demonstrate this rise in community concern and resulting activity. Ultimately, we want to see every man, woman and child taking a pro-active, well-informed role in helping create peace on every level of life across the nation," states Marcia Rosen, New Horizons Founder and Program Director. 

The New Horizons Violence Prevention Town Meeting will seek to build an expanded grassroots spirit and unity in the county to deter all forms of violence. Gun control, the focus of the Million Mom March, can help stop the most dramatic episodes but it is not the only issue that needs to be dealt with to insure the wellbeing of all children. The roots of teen depression and the day-to-day hostilities that continue to divide people are also important issues that must not be ignored. The New Horizons program is uniquely equipped to offer comprehensive violence prevention programs as it was originally built upon a successful therapeutic community model for prison rehabilitation. 

Marcia Rosen will be the featured program presenter at the June 8th town meeting. Her offering will include anecdotes, and theories from the quarter century she has been sculpting the sophisticated New Horizons Violence Prevention Model that effectively combines practices for community development along with those that are related to violence prevention. Ms. Rosen is currently under contract to Random House/Ballantine Books Inc. and is the author of four as yet unpublished books that deal with both the roots of violence as well as its treatment in individuals, intimate relationships and communities. 

Volunteers are now being sought for help with the violence prevention project. Funding for the New Horizons Program, an approved 501c(3), is also needed to support the public application of the prototype.