FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jill Cappadoro
Director of Public Relations
(813) 223-6831

HART BUSES ARE PROJECT SAFE PLACE SITES

August 12, 2002, Tampa, FL – The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) has joined the list of Project Safe Place sites in Hillsborough County.
All 189 HART buses now display Safe Place decals on the lower front windshields of each passenger side.

Administered locally by the Hillsborough County Department of Children’s Services, Project Safe Place is a national effort designed to assist teenagers in crisis. The program creates a network of Safe Places at businesses and public facilities where young people can go and request assistance.

\When a youth boards a bus and requests help through Safe Place, bus operators are instructed to activate a Safe Place response by contacting HART dispatch. Dispatch will link the child with the Haven W. Poe Runaway Center where staff members will evaluate the situation and arrange for the child to be transported home or to the runaway shelter.

HART joins other Safe Place sites including Tampa, Temple Terrace, Plant City and Hillsborough County fire stations, Domino’s Pizza locations, Wendy’s restaurants, Tampa and Hillsborough County recreation centers, YMCAs, libraries, Boys and Girls Clubs and Home Depot.

For more information about HART, call the HARTinfo Line at (813) 254-4278, TDD (813) 626-9158