Annual Conference

Mark Chaffin Community Award 2023 Recipients 

This award is given in honor of the life and legacy of Dr. Mark Chaffin. Dr. Chaffin was a leader in the field of child maltreatment prevention research. It recognizes individuals who have made repeated, significant, and outstanding contributions and commitment to the prevention of child abuse and neglect in Georgia.

Steve Collins

“Because of your engagement, we have a strong foundation on which to build. Your support made all the difference in setting us on a path to success!”

Steve Collins is the founder and president of Adults Protecting Children, Inc., a non-profit organization committed to helping adults and organizations make better choices and diminish risk factors that make children vulnerable to abuse. Before retiring at the end of 2022, Steve served for 12 years as the Region 2 Coordinator for Northeast Georgia for the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy Center. As the first regional coordinator he developed the strategy to build community coalitions in an effort to promote prevention education.  He provided guidance and training, and helped motivate communities to reach a “tipping point” by training 5% of the adult population. Not only was he successful in leading 10 of his 13 counties to that tipping point, his region was the first and only to this day that has reached a region-wide tipping point, over 30,000 adults.

Steve is a distinguished certified instructor of numerous programs and has personally trained over 6,000 individuals in abuse prevention education nationally and internationally. He was the 2016 recipient of Hall County Crime Victims’ Award for serving the most vulnerable victims. Beyond being a sought-after trainer, Steve’s expertise is in working with faith communities to develop child protection policies and procedures and a plan for implementing training.  Prior to his role at the Georgia Center, he worked as the Director of Spiritual Life with Mission to the World for 17 years where he was responsible for the care and nurture of individuals and families serving overseas, including child protection.  His passion and contributions to the field have inspired so many.

Kathy Brown-Bragg

Kathy Brown-Bragg, MSW, LCSW, MAC, has been the Project Director for CHRIS 180’s New Generations program since its inception in 2019. New Generations is an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Program that equips parents and caregivers with what they need to build stronger relationships with children so children can feel safe, supported and valued.

Kathy, with decades in the behavioral health field, joined CHRIS 180 to create, lead and direct this innovative program that focuses on intervention and prevention work with traumatized young children and their families. The intent is to help families move beyond their trauma to avoid maladaptive patterns that often lead to family disruption, legal involvement and further traumatization. Trauma changes brain development and cognitive development in young children, so the team utilizes a wraparound service model to provide everything a child and their caregivers need through a team-based approach that includes a care coordinator, therapist, behavior aide and nurse. For instance, care coordinators act as the “bus driver” for the team and handle all needs – from food insecurity to transportation issues.

Kathy’s leadership and supervision allow teams to help families connect with children and families, work to strengthen parenting skills, equip parents and other caregivers to help children thrive, provide individualized community-based support services focused on family strengths and provide classroom support.