Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to Work-Along with Local Volunteers to Revitalize the Downtown Orlando Recreation Center

WHAT:
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer will join with local businesses - Color Wheel Paint and Braven Paint - to work-along with 250 local volunteers to paint and revitalize the Downtown Orlando Recreation Center, home of the Parramore Kidz Zone program, for the Refresh Orlando event.

“We are very grateful to all the partners involved in the Refresh Orlando volunteer event and their generosity to the Parramore Kidz Zone,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. “This event will help benefit the thousands of Orlando’s most at-risk youths enrolled in the PKZ program as well as further beautify the Parramore neighborhood. Through partnerships like this one, our community continues to work together to make our City the best place anywhere to live, work and raise a family.”

The Parramore Kidz Zone (PKZ) was launched by Mayor Dyer to connect Orlando’s most at-risk youth population to positive opportunities, including pre-kindergarten education, healthcare, mentoring, employment, tutoring and constructive activities. PKZ has seen dramatic results in the City’s highest poverty community, including:

• A nearly 80% decline in juvenile arrests in Parramore since the program was implemented.
• An increase in FCAT math and reading scores for elementary, middle and high school students.
• More than 3,000 children have been registered in PKZ programs, nearly all of the children in Parramore.

WHEN:
Saturday, March 10, 2012
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
**Mayor Dyer Media Availability: 9:00 – 9:30 a.m.***

WHERE:
Orlando Downtown Recreation Center
649 West Livingston Street

WORK-ALONG BACKGROUND:
As part of Mayor Dyer’s commitment to providing citizens with the high quality service they have come to expect, he participates in work-alongs with various City staff. Mayor Dyer has worked with Code Enforcement Officers, gone door-to-door with Orlando Police Officers delivering valuable City information to residents in the Parramore Heritage Neighborhood, assisted City staff and children of the Nap Ford Community School in planting a community garden and worked in the customer service and development review areas of Permitting Services.

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