ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County Commissioners signed off Tuesday on a new three-year, $900,000 program aimed at curbing youth violence.

What You Need To Know

  • Orange County Commissioners approve new Youth Violence Prevention Program

  • Funding comes from county's Citizens Safety Task Force budget

  • $900k approved for three-year program

Funding for the new Youth Violence Prevention Program comes from the Orange County Citizens Safety Task Force budget. The task force, created in the fall of 2020 to address gun violence and violent crime, was given 120 days to seek solutions, which were lined out in a report.

The county’s Community and Family Services Department is overseeing the program, which focuses on crime prevention and intervention. It will be implemented by the Florida Economic Consortium.

Rod Love, president of the Florida Economic Consortium, is working with three different grassroots agencies on this program: Morgan Ministries, PowerTeens, Inc., and King Solomon Foundation.

“We’re in the trenches doing the work,” said Elizabeth Morgan of Morgan Ministries. “We’re reaching families, we’re reaching children.”

The program targets young people ages 13 to 25 who are at-risk or underserved. Mentoring is one aspect of the program.

Morgan said funding from this program will help her do greater work. “We can do greater things because now we have someone alongside us that comes with some greater resources and skills,” she said of Love. “That’s called empowerment.”

Y23-2014 Florida Economic Consortium Inc Draft by Phillip Stucky on Scribd