Ready To Work Programs Aim To Keep Kids Safe

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Miami-Dade County leaders are looking to rejuvenate the South Florida workforce with opportunities for teens and young adults that get them off the streets during the summer and on the clock.

Tavza Nester has never been involved in crime. Her friends also stay out of trouble. But violence in the Northwest Miami-Dade neighborhood where she lives and attends school, much of it involving young people, impacts her nearly every day.

"It happens with drive-bys. They don't know how to control guns," said Nester. "Just hearing stories about incidents makes me scared to walk home by myself."

She's also upset by the murders of several of her classmates and knows something has got to change.

"We need help with our boys, our young men. Because we're the future," she said. "I think we should have after school programs, too. Maybe more in the athletic department."

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez believes that idea is key. In a news conference with police Wednesday, he announced a partnership with CareerSource to create 1,800 summer jobs.

"The goal of the program is to provide youths between the ages of 14 and 17 who reside in areas with the highest number of youth arrests, with the opportunity to gain work experience," Mayor Giminez says.

He also upped the parks budget by $3 million for a juvenile athletics and internship program.

And Police Director Juan Perez unveiled a new program, in partnership with the County's Juvenile Services Department, targeting repeat juvie offenders to pair troubled kids with specially trained cop mentors.

"It takes a village to raise a child. We are going to help build that village. We're going to get into that neighborhood where that child lives, we're going to go to the home and bring services and programs to that home to prevent that child from picking up that gun," said Perez. "And I know we may encounter resistance at times, 'cause we may not be wanted there but we're going to continue to try."

Teens we spoke with acknowledged it will be an uphill battle at first but they liked the cop mentor idea.

"Us young black men in school nowadays, we need that person who's there. If you don't have family at home, we might not have that male figure in our lives," said one teen.

The program's first year, funded through a federal grant, will focus on 25 kids in the north and south sides of the county, paired up with 25 community officers.

The Mayor is also promising more collaboration with law enforcement, prosecutors and other entities focused on protecting young people like Tavza.

"We need the help of the school board and we will help them too," said Mayor Giminez. "This has got to be a comprehensive approach."

The Police Union president put out a scathing statement in response to the Mayor's plan saying:

"This is simply another attempt to improve his image on public safety. Until more officers are hired and Mayor Gimenez actually puts money where his mouth is, by truly bringing up staffing levels and reinstating programs that worked, things will not improve. And we will continue to lose more lives," said Perez.

The Mayor's office says it has increased funding and that community policing is the main priority.

To read more about this Youth Safety Initiative, go to: www.careersourcesfl.com