Orlando expanding Kidz Zone model to 3 neighborhoods to help at-risk youth

ORLANDO, Fla. - The City of Orlando is expanding its Kidz Zone model to three new neighborhoods to reach more at-risk youth and connect them with academic, job and mentoring services.

The Orlando City Council recently approved $2 million in funding through the fiscal year 2020/2021 budget to expand the Kidz Zone model to the Holden Heights, Mercy Drive and Engelwood neighborhoods.
Lisa Early, the Families, Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Orlando, said the model is mirrored after the highly successful Parramore Kidz Zone.

"The model is, you pick a geographic area where kids are struggling and invest in all the things that research shows makes a difference in children's lives."  

Early said the money would be invested in programs that provide high-quality preschool education, after-school programs, and mentoring services. 

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"And then post-secondary assistance to get them into, not only, post-secondary education but graduate with credentials, so that they can earn higher wages." 

Early said the city would collaborate with local partners who are currently providing services in the communities to increase them and find ways to bring new programs into the neighborhoods.

Teens like Lamonte Lake are already taking advantage of the new programs. He got a job as a summer camp counselor at Northwest Neighborhood Center through the expanded youth employment program.

"[I’m] learning how to write checks, customer service, helping others." Without the job, he said he would not be as productive. "[I’d be] home, looking at TV on the couch. Not here with the kids."

Early said the proof is in the numbers. When Parramore Kidz Zone was implemented in 2006, Early said Parramore had the highest juvenile arrest rate and teen pregnancy rate in Orlando. Nearly 15 years later, more than 6-thousand children have been served, juvenile arrests in Parramore are down 78 percent, teen births in Parramore are down 63 percent, and children attending early learning programs are up 117 percent. 

Early said parents who say their children get into trouble at school is also down 76 percent.

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"It's been really effective, and that was really the motivation for okay now it's time to begin replicating it in other communities."

Early said the three neighborhoods where the Kidz Zone model is being expanded were strategically chosen. She said recent analysis shows the Mercy Drive area is where children need the most help now. Holden Heights was selected because it abuts Parramore and a lot of the relationships and people were already in place.

Early said Engelwood was chosen "because we had already begun to build out a lot of the infrastructure, with programming at the elementary school level. At the middle school level we had recently gotten an AmeriCorps grant to begin to put AmeriCorps members on at Colonial High School.

Early said the city has people going door-to-door raising awareness and recruiting youth for Kidz Zone.
For more information on the Kidz Zone model visit the City of Orlando website.