FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brie Turek (407) 246-3106
Heather Allebaugh (407) 246-3423

Mayor Dyer Announces $2 Million Commitment to Jumpstart Orlando’s Parramore Kidz Zone

WHAT: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded a matching grant to the Community Foundation of Central Florida to fund the City of Orlando’s Parramore Kidz Zone, a project which brings together a coalition of more than 40 community partners who will combine their efforts to improve family economic security and engage young people in an array of activities in the Parramore neighborhood. This matching grant combined with contributions from local funding partners, funds raised at City Kidz! Buddy’s Benefit for Children and funds established for childcare subsidies equal $2 Million to benefit the Parramore Kidz Zone.

WHEN: Thursday, July 13, 2006 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Callahan Neighborhood Center, 101 N. Parramore Avenue

WHY: Nearly $2 million will jump-start the Parramore Kidz Zone project. 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.

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.

“The strength of the Parramore Kidz Zone is the unprecedented community support. Rather than starting new programs, Parramore Kidz Zone is a unique opportunity to grow and enhance existing community services, developing an effective model of prevention that can later be replicated in our City’s other low-income neighborhoods,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

WHO: The RWJF grant is matching funds contributed by the City’s community partners, including the Dr. P. Phillips Charities, the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, Kiwanis of Orlando, and Universal Orlando.

VISUALS/
I-VIEWS: Mayor Buddy Dyer
Representatives from community partners
District 5 City Commissioner Daisy W. Lynum
Parramore children participating in summer camp activities made possible through Parramore Kidz Zone
 

###