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Families, Parks and Recreation
Press
Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Heather Allebaugh 407.246.3423
Cassandra Lafser 407.246.2182
Victoria Shade 407.246.4318 (on site)
Orlando Mayor Dyer and Experts with the Harlem
Children’s Zone Host the Florida Children’s Initiative
Replication Workshop
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WHAT: |
Tomorrow,
Orlando Mayor Dyer and experts from the Harlem
Children’s Zone will offer insight and best
practices to representatives from across the
state of Florida on how to launch and sustain a
successful children’s initiative during the
Florida Children’s Initiative Replication
Workshop on May 26 and 27, 2010.
Participants
will also have the opportunity to tour and get
an inside look into Mayor Dyer’s Parramore Kidz
Zone (PKZ) program, the first Florida model of
the esteemed Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ)
project.
“We are thrilled with the
positive changes Parramore Kidz Zone has brought
to Orlando and honored that Harlem Children’s
Zone is partnering with us to host this event,”
said Mayor Dyer. “This is a landmark opportunity
for cities to join together to replicate this
proven model for the benefit of children
throughout the State of Florida.”
The
two-day conference is sponsored by PKZ, Ounce of
Prevention Fund of Florida, and Edyth Bush
Charitable Foundation.
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WHO:
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Orlando Mayor Dyer
Harlem Children’s Zone
Parramore Kidz Zone
Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida
Edyth
Bush Charitable Foundation
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WHEN:
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Wednesday, May 26
and Thursday, May 27, 2010
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MEDIA WINDOW:
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Wednesday, May 26
at 11:15 a.m.
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WHERE:
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City Hall – 9th Floor Overlook Room
400 S.
Orange Avenue
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BACKGROUND:
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HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE:
The HCZ Project is a
unique, holistic approach to rebuilding a
community so that its children can stay on track
through college and go on to the job market. The
goal is to create a "tipping point" in the
neighborhood so that children are surrounded by
an enriching environment of college-oriented
peers and supportive adults, a counterweight to
"the street.”
The HCZ model has gained
recognition as the template for President
Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods proposal, a
federal initiative which will provide
competitive, 1-year planning grants to
non-profit, community-based organizations to
support the development of plans for
comprehensive neighborhood programs, designed to
combat the effects of poverty and improve
education and life outcomes for children, from
birth through college.
PARRAMORE KIDZ
ZONE:
Modeled after the Harlem Children’s
Zone, PKZ employs creative outreach to engage a
critical mass of Parramore’s children and
linking them to positive opportunities,
including pre-kindergarten education, parenting
education, health care, mentoring, tutoring, and
constructive activities when school is out. PKZ
is also the only project in the nation that the
Harlem Children Zone allows to use its
trademarked “zone” term.
OUNCE OF
PREVENTION FUND OF FLORIDA:
Founded in 1989,
The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida is a
private, nonprofit corporation dedicated to
shaping prevention policy and investing in
innovative prevention programs that provide
measurable benefits for Florida’s most
vulnerable children and families. Among the
Ounce of Prevention Fund’s signature programs is
Healthy Families Florida, a nationally
accredited child abuse prevention program.
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