Join the community effort tonight at 7 to keep our children and young people safe

One look at Kenny Irby’s Twitter page and the message is clear: making our community safe for our youth starts on an individual basis. Mayor Rick Kriesman hired Kenny Irby in February to be the city’s community intervention director. His task is to create and coordinate solutions to keep children and young people from ending up dead or in jail.

Irby is coordinating the My Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper initiative, which grew out of a federal program designed to connect young people to mentoring, support networks, and skills they need to find a good job or go to college and work their way into the middle class. Irby is a former faculty member at the Poynter Institute and pastor at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg.

Also under Irby’s direction is the mayor’s Not My Son initiative to keep community youth safe this summer. The goal of the grassroots community outreach campaign is to promote positive achievement and anti-crime awareness. Residents are encouraged to take the Not My Son pledge and to participate in the community canvass, which begins at 7 p.m. Friday, July 8 at the Childs Park Recreation Center.

Join Kenny Irby in this important community endeavor and join him on Twitter to stay connected.