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After-school program hopes to provide a safe path for student success

Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough explains how a partnership with the YMCA and other community groups is designed to help keep kids out of trouble and find success. KERI BROWN/WFDD

A new initiative in Winston-Salem is hoping to steer kids away from joining gangs and help prevent youth violence. The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office is partnering with local organizations and community members to make it happen.

The after-school program at the Winston Lake Family YMCA is in the heart of East Winston. It's a community that has a high level of poverty.

The goal is to create positive experiences for kids through mentoring and tutoring. Meals will be provided. There's even summer camp, and other activities to help keep kids engaged year-round.

Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough says they will also work with families to provide support services.

“Their families will be there to participate in the GED program if they don't have interviewing skills, life skills," says Kimbrough. "There is a plethora of things that are cranking up and starting up over there and I think those are going to be game changers.”

Kimbrough says the program is a community effort that came together with the help of local groups and donations from residents. 

The plan is to work with kids over the next five years. He says this also includes exposing them to colleges and universities through campus visits and other experiences in hopes of sparking an interest in higher learning.

The program currently serves around 40 boys and 10 girls in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools district. A majority of them are middle schoolers, with some elementary students.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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