ORLANDO, Fla. — The Ninth Judicial Circuit, covering Orange and Osceola counties, is piloting a literacy program for juveniles who have criminal justice cases.

The goal is to get kids to turn the page to a new chapter in their lives.

State Attorney Andrew Bain announced the Turning Pages program and said that it would be offered to more youth in the fall.

The first pilot group of five students already completed the 12-week intensive program, taught by UCF graduate student clinicians.

Bain said the hope is for at-risk youth in Osceola and Orange counties to focus on learning and getting help with reading, writing, spelling and comprehension skills, so they don’t feel school is against them.

He said this experience can lead to fewer interactions with the criminal justice system.

His office cited the Literacy Project Foundation, which shows three out of five people in U.S. prisons cannot read, and 85% of all juveniles in the juvenile system are functionally illiterate.

Bain said he’s partnering with Orange County Sheriff John Mina, and they used some of their forfeiture money to help him get started on the pilot program. 

Bain said he struggled with literacy as a kid. He said he had a physical disability where his right eye didn’t move when he read. He said early intervention helped him through it and says low literacy skills can have psychological effects on a child, feelings of academic failure that can lead to anger and frustration, and later on, violence in the community.

“If you look at some of the most recent homicides when it comes to juveniles, a lot of them are middle school dropouts, they have very low GPAs and because of that they have found themselves in the streets," said Bain. "So school should be a safe place for these kids to go and when they’re struggling academically it doesn’t become a safe place for them to go."

Through the non-profit AMIkids, which works with juvenile offenders, youth are identified to take part in the program.

Spectrum News reached out to UCF, AMIkids and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for comment on the program. We’re waiting to hear back.