Cincinnati, Ohio (April 15, 2019) – Today, Buckle Up for Life announced 73 partnerships across the country, expanding its reach to 100,672 people across 193 cities. Buckle Up for Life is the national car seat safety program created by Cincinnati Children’s and Toyota in 2004 to help keep child passengers safe. It provides critical education to teach parents and caregivers about the proper use of car seats and provides free seats to families in need.
“We know installing a car seat is not always easy, but a correctly installed seat can make all the difference in a crash,” said Corazon Eaton, child passenger safety expert at Cincinnati Children’s and National Program Manager for Buckle Up for Life. “We thank our new partners for their commitment to sharing techniques and resources with their community members to help families keep their littlest passengers safe.”
New partners will receive programming support, car seats and funding to offer Buckle Up for Life in their communities for free. During the program, trained specialists work closely with families and caregivers to educate them about all aspects of car seats, booster seats and seat belts. Participating families in need receive free car seats and are matched with certified child passenger safety technicians to learn how to install them properly. The 2019-2020 partners are:
- American Family Children's Hospital (Fitchburg, WI)
- Bristol's Promise (Bristol, TN)
- Center for Safe Alaskans (Anchorage, AK)
- Doernbecher Children's Hospital (Portland, OR)
- Hennepin Health Foundation (Minneapolis, MN)
- Norton Children's Hospital (Louisville, KY)
- Olmsted County Public Health Services (Rochester, MN)
- Pacific Safety Center (San Diego, CA)
- St. Joseph's Children's Hospital (Tampa, FL)
- University Hospital Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital (Cleveland, OH)
- University Medical Center of El Paso (El Paso, TX )
- YMCA New Orleans (Metairie, LA)
In addition to the new partners, 60 local community organizations will receive Gift of Safety grants, which include Buckle Up for Life curricula to teach families how to correctly install car seats and 100 free seats to distribute to local families in need.
