The Joyful Child Foundation

Be Brave - Be Safe Empowerment Program (AKA BRAVE Programs)

The Joyful Child Foundation (TJCF)’s cornerstone BRAVE Program offers a joyful, child-centered approach to safety, equipping children with the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills to recognize and avoid danger, assert personal boundaries, and resist violence, abuse, exploitation, bullying, trafficking, and abduction. Lesson Topics Include: Personal Safety Principles, Safety at Home, Safety to and From Home, Safety at School, Listening to My Body, Questionable Behaviors, Safety with Friends, Situations of Conflict, Safety in Public Places, Communications Technology (Online and Cell Phones), verbal and physical defense including stopping unwanted or inappropriate touch. TJCF is eager to build upon these core lessons to address the latest trends and challenges, such as the impact of AI on safety. Launched in 2013 with a 10-Lesson Elementary Curriculum (K-6) for credentialed teachers and BRAVE Workshops for nonprofits serving high-need families, the program expanded in 2018 to include video-based lessons. In 2022, TJCF developed three BRAVE Video Lessons and Teacher Training modules for Early Learners (Pre-K), distributed to all Early Learning Centers in Orange County and made available to school and community partners via custom websites featuring comprehensive resources for teachers, parents, and other caring adults. In 2024, Healing To You (H2Y) partnered with TJCF for a project supported by funding from the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) American Rescue Plan COVID-19 Testing, Vaccines, and Mobile Health Unit Supplemental Funding Program, administered through the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. We published our first BRAVE Comic Book with a QR Code linking to trauma-informed video lessons that children. The Comic Book is a tangible resource that introduces the core principles of safety empowerment in an accessible and engaging format. These materials are distributed through H2Y’s medical and mental health mobile units to families impacted by violence in Orange, Riverside, and Los Angeles Counties. These resources are available to schools, partner agencies, and families on TJCF’s secure website. However, the current platform does not support data collection or usage tracking and that is why our current focus is on transitioning to a learner-centered online platform with robust usage analytics. As children face increasing emotional and environmental challenges, access to evidence-based, empowering prevention education is more critical than ever. No other organization offers the breadth or scalability of BRAVE, and collaborative partnerships are essential to embed consistent safety messaging across schools, families, nonprofits, and law enforcement.