MOUNT VERNON – The City of Mount Vernon’s Youth Bureau has launched an outreach program aimed at addressing the needs of its ‘at-risk’ male youth. The Step Up! program will provide young men with options and alternatives to the negative influences that they face on a daily basis.

The goal of Step Up! is to build community, trust, skills and knowledge so that young people have true opportunity for success.

Step Up! will consist of group meetings, field trips, follow-up with parents and school officials, coordination of community support services and a youth-police partnership and training. Aside from the interaction with the program coordinator, each young man in the group will partner with a Mount Vernon police officer in a unique training/mentoring program that is designed to create a better relationship between the police and Mount Vernon’s youth. Training topics will include leadership skills, public speaking, interactive skills and more.

Mount Vernon’s Step Up! Program is funded by the Westchester County Youth Bureau and is a partnership with the Mount Vernon Police Department, the Westchester County Department of Probation and North American Family Institute.