Chautauqua Safety Village
- Project Title: Chautauqua Safety Village
- Program Representative Interviewed: Jessica Dayton, Director
- Location: Ashville, New York
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Program Overview: The Chautauqua Safety Village is a nonprofit organization that offers
hands-on safety education across the lifespan. Programs are offered starting at age four and through
adulthood, covering a range of topics, such as traffic and bike safety, fire safety, first aid, and CPR.
Participants are taught about safety in a classroom setting and then encouraged to practice learned behaviors in the five-acre interactive Safety Village. The Safety Village includes, for example, model crosswalks and streets within which students can practice pedestrian safety. There is also a mock apartment that exhibits fire dangers and teaches students how to escape down a safety ladder. The program uses certified curriculums, such as CPR trainings from the American Heart Association and the National Child Passenger Safety Certification through Safe Kids.
The Fire Safety Education Program, led by Chautauqua Safety Village, offers a hands-on fire safety training in “Sparky's Hazard House” that simulates real life emergencies. The training teaches children the importance of smoke alarms, identifying two ways out of every room, having an emergency meeting place, and creating an escape plan.