For the past couple of months, KHCC has tweeted and called de Blasio and other local officials asking for help, using the hashtag ”SaveSummer” to raise awareness of the dangers of being idle during the school break.
“The mayor says he wants a program where students are engaged during the school year, but then in the summertime there’s nothing,” Greene said. “Why are we picking and choosing when we’re providing such vital services? So what we’re basically saying is, ‘September to June we got you, but July through August, you’re on your own?’
“For some families who live in high-risk neighborhoods, programs like these are all they have.”
But it’s not just guns and gangs. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center reports that one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused by the time they hit 18, and 93 percent of perpetrators are people the victims already know.
“So it’s easy to leave them home because it’s cheaper,” Greene said, “but sometimes kids are left alone with someone they don’t really like or aren’t safe.”
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