The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in Region IV hosted a meeting in Atlanta in 1990 that brought together 73 injury control professionals from seven of the eight southeast Region IV states. At this meeting, the participants from both motor vehicle and health perspectives discussed forming a network to cooperate in efforts to reduce injury morbidity and mortality and to support the new injury prevention programs beginning in the region. By building on the strong relationship with the North Carolina Injury Control Section of the state health department, the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center (IPRC) initiated the Southeastern Regional Injury Control Network (SERICN) in collaboration with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Center for Disease Control, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham IPRC. This voluntary network currently includes professionals from the:
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Region IV states:
| Alabama | Florida | Georgia |
| Kentucky | Mississippi | North Carolina |
| South Carolina | Tennessee | |
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Injury Prevention Research Center;
- University of Alabama at Birmingham Injury Control Research Center
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Region IV;
- National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
at the Centers for Disease Control and prevention;
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Maternal and Child Health Bureau;
- Other collaborating national and regional organizations over the last decade including: Georgia SAFE KIDS, Egleston Hospital-Atlanta, Children's Safety Network, State and Territorial Injury Prevention Director's Association (STIPDA), the Consumer Products Safety Commission, and the Safe America Foundation.
The first SERICN meeting occurred in March 1991, and the group continued meeting on a quarterly basis for several years. More recently the group has met three times a year. In addition the Network holds monthly conference calls. The Network finalized the following mission statement in September of 1991, and these have since been revised to include:
"…the Network is dedicated to developing a coordinated approach to unintentional and intentional injury control in the Southeastern states. This effort seeks collaboration from its membership on:
| 1) | development and implementation of quality intervention strategies and research activities based on leading causes of injuries; |
| 2) | training injury control personnel; |
| 3) | development and use of injury surveillance systems; |
| 4) | development and support of injury prevention policy; |
| 5) | dissemination of injury information, and; |
| 6) | commitment to the development, maintenance, and evaluation of effective injury control efforts." |
