April is Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, and a local victims center said there is a need for more community involvement.

Paul Lukach, the executive director of the Crime Victims Center, said this month is a national celebration to not only bring awareness but solutions to keep children safe. He added the Crime Victims Center collaborates with several other agencies in Erie to create education and prevention programs.

Lukach said that over the past years, community involvement has grown along with an increase in mandated reporter training, but there is still a call to action he is asking of the community.

“We still need so many good adult role models. There are good people out there who want to do the right thing. We want to make sure they are educated and trained, and we indeed want them to encourage people to be good role models for kids. That’s one way to make sure that we don’t have these incidents in our community,” said Lukach.

Tuesday night, Erie County will light the courthouse blue at 6 p.m. in honor of Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Awareness Month.