8
QUEENS WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019
R’wood activist hails
‘Erin’s Law’ signing
Activist Connie Altamirano says Governor Cuomo will save lives for enacting Erin’s
Law across the state requiring sex abuse prevention classes in public schools.
BY BILL PARRY
A Ridgewood activist is
feeling relieved now that
Governor Andrew Cuomo
has enacted “Erin’s Law”
in New York state that
requires public schools
to teach sexual abuse and
exploitation prevention
classes for students in
kindergarten through
eighth grade beginning
next year.
Connie Altamirano,
a 45-year-old single
mother of two who suffers
from PTSD and other
complications following
her own sexual abuse
as a child, spent seven
years advocating for the
legislation that requires
instruction each year
to know the difference
between safe and unsafe
touches as well as safe and
unsafe secrets.
“What Governor
Cuomo signed will save
lives and it will save years
and decades of trauma by
survivors and children
in New York state,”
Altamirano said.
Erin’s Law is named
for Erin Merryn, another
abuse survivor and activist
against child sexual abuse
who has advocated for
similar laws nationwide
for more than a decade.
When Cuomo signed the
legislation, he called
sexual abuse a national
epidemic that has inflicted
unimaginable pain on
countless children.
“Many children who
have been a victim of
these horrific crimes or
who are still suffering
from abuse don’t have the
information or emotional
tools they need to fight
back,” Cuomo said. “By
requiring schools to teach
kids how to recognize and
ultimately thwart this
heinous behavior, we are
giving our most vulnerable
New Yorkers a voice and
empowering them to
protect themselves.”
Altamirano originally
began lobbying in
Albany is support of
former Assemblywoman
Margaret Markey’s
Child Victims Act which
Cuomo signed into
law in February.
“The CVA and Erin’s
Law go hand in hand,”
she said. “I do wish the
governor had signed it by
Courtesy of Connie Altamirano
July 1 so we might have
gotten the curriculum
in place in time for
this school year, but I
understand the funding
wasn’t in the budget for
this year.”
Altamirano wishes the
state was doing more to
advertise what Erin’s Law
will do.
“I go house to house
and to parks and the beach
distributing information
that educates everyone
from children to senior
citizens, and I meet with
educators and school
administrators in all
five boroughs helping to
prepare them for the new
curriculum” Altamirano
said. “More should be
provided to inform the
public on the details. Yes,
the CVA and Erin’s Law
passed in the same year,
that’s two important bills
in eight months, but we are
not done. We still have to
do more for the survivors
and the children of New
York state.”
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by email at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
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