NEWS RELEASES

 

 




 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
 Contact: Carson Chandler, (407) 246 - 2822
              Heather Allebaugh, (407) 246 - 3423
             
                       
 

MAYOR DYER CALLS ON COMMUNITY TO JOIN PARRAMORE KIDZ ZONE MENTORING PROGRAM

 

WHAT: Mayor Dyer will challenge the community to join the City’s efforts to revitalize Parramore and prevent crime in our neighborhoods. The launch of the Parramore Kidz Zone mentoring program builds on the SAFE Orlando Task Force crime prevention recommendations to “ensure the availability of adult-supervised after school activities for all students.”

Already more than 40 community and business leaders have committed to mentoring a child in the Parramore Kidz Zone. At Thursday’s announcement, PBS&J will present a $50,000 check to Mayor Dyer and the Parramore Kidz Zone to support initiatives such as the mentoring program.

 
WHO: Mayor Dyer
City Officials
State Representative Geraldine Thompson
Anne Geiger, Orange County School Board Member
Congresswoman Corrine Brown’s Office
Robert Paulsen, PBS & J
Ron Rogers, 100 Black Men
Lonnie Bell, African American Chamber of Commerce
Haki Nkrumah, Young Fathers of Central Florida
Monica May, STAR 94.5
Paul Stevens, Circle of Friends
Jones High School Teachers
OUC Representatives
Orange County Public Schools

 
WHEN: Thursday, February 21, 2008, 11:30 a.m.

 
WHERE: Howard Middle School
800 E. Robinson Street
Orlando, FL

About Parramore Kidz Zone
Modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, Parramore Kidz Zone will employ creative outreach to engage a critical mass of Parramore’s children and link them to positive opportunities, including pre-kindergarten education, parenting education, healthcare, mentoring, tutoring, and constructive activities when school is out.

Since the launch, half of the children in Parramore have been engaged in positive activities through the Parramore Kidz Zone. The goal is to improve school performance, and decrease juvenile crime, child abuse and teen pregnancy rates among Parramore’s 2,000 children, 73% of whom live in poverty. The neighborhood currently has the highest juvenile crime, poverty, child abuse and teen pregnancy rates in the County.
 

About PBS&J
PBS&J (www.pbsj.com) is an employee-owned firm that provides infrastructure planning, engineering, construction management, architecture and program management services to public and private clients. The firm is ranked by Engineering News-Record as 25th among the nation’s top consulting firms. PBS&J has 4,000 employees in more than 80 offices located throughout the United States and abroad. PBS&J has nearly 500 employees in central Florida.

 

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