County Continues To Invest-In-Kids
Funding secured to help City of Peekskill provide much needed programs for youth in community

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 27, 2007

Contact: George Oros, 914.995.2828, Oros@westchesterlegislators.com

County Legislator George Oros (R-C/Cortlandt) is pleased to announce $120,000 was recently approved by the Board of Legislators for the City of Peekskill Youth Bureau to continue providing after-school and summer programs for youth ages 11-18.

The funding is part of the county’s Urban Youth Initiative “Invest-in-Kids” program, which was established in 1993 to be a positive development model for at-risk youths in 11 urban communities.

Peekskill’s Youth Bureau, which started in 1994, has been part of the Invest-in-Kids program for the last 10 years.

“Invest-in-Kids is just what the name implies: an investment,” said Oros, whose district covers Peekskill, Cortlandt, Buchanan and parts of Yorktown. “It is much wiser to invest taxpayer funds to help our youth stay out of trouble than to incur the heavy cost of incarceration and other high costs to society for non-productive citizens.”

Under the direction of Valerie Swan and with the support of Mayor John Testa and the Common Council, Oros said the Peekskill Youth Bureau is “held up as a model for other municipalities in the county.”

Swan said more than 280 youth participate in various programs offered through Invest-in-Kids. She said about 80 of those youngsters between the ages of 11-13 will be part of a new initiative made possible by the funds approved by the county.

“The parents are ecstatic,” Swan said. “Those are kids too old to go to camp and too young to work. We definitely would not be able to have that program without the county’s help.”