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Crime Stoppers of Houston is offering free virtual programming this summer with topics from cyber safety to storing a gun safely. Classes run through July 30.
Photo: Courtesy Of Crime Stoppers Of HoustonCrime Stoppers of Houston is offering free virtual programming this summer with topics from cyber safety to storing a gun safely. Classes run through July 30.
Crime Stoppers of Houston is offering free virtual programming this summer with topics from cyber safety to storing a gun safely. Classes run through July 30.
Crime Stoppers of Houston is offering free virtual programming this summer with topics from cyber safety to storing a gun safely. Classes run through July 30.
During its 40th year, Crime Stoppers of Houston is hosting free virtual programming this summer for children, students, parents, teachers and the community at large.
CEO Rania Mankarious said the nonprofit’s team had been expecting to celebrate its banner anniversary this year, but that has taken a back seat to all that has been going on. When COVID-19 struck during spring break, they realized Houston-area students probably would not be going back to school for a while and took all their programming virtual quickly.
“We were very creative in updating material, changing material, making it fit sort of this new world. And it took off,” Mankarious said. “And we reached thousands and thousands and thousands of people, parents, kids, teachers, school programs.”
Summer programs are running on Mondays through Thursdays through July 30 (except June 30 through July 2, due to the Fourth of July holiday). Times vary.
All programs are over Zoom and completely free of charge. They include the Safe School Institute Summer Camp for children kindergarten and up, students and parents; the SAVE (Safety Actions, Valuable Education) program, which emphasizes the importance of reporting crimes and tips; and the Safe Community Program, which shares about everything from childcare during COVID-19 to storing a gun safely.
The Safe School Institute began in 1997. Mankarious, who has been with Crime Stoppers since 2006, said the institute has since reached nearly 1.3 million Houston-area children and students in their classrooms.
“Now I’m talking from kindergarten to 12th grade, about everything related to the protection of these kids, whether it’s online, through gaming, through social media; or whether it’s on the playground or you know, just walking in the park. You name it, we’re touching it,” Mankarious said.
Safe School Institute Manager Jenna Fondren said the programming is trying to educate that audience that is staying close to home this summer because of the virus.
“So offering not only presentations in person but virtually is so important to us. And we can reach people in Houston, outside of Houston. One person could hear about what we’re doing in the city and tell five friends, and it grows from there,” Fondren said.
She helped design the summer programs and is glad to be covering some topics that they normally would not. Fondren added that Crime Stoppers has tried to teach them in such a way that they are very relevant currently, such as being safe when students are online much more than they might usually be.
She said the goal of the Safe School Institute is to inform students well enough to make good decisions later.
Mankarious said it is an interesting time in the United States right now, where some are calling on defunding police and putting more resources into crime prevention programming.
“We are the biggest crime prevention program in the area. We do not want to see the defunding of police by any means at all, but we love the fact that people are understanding the value of crime prevention programming. And this is what we’ve been doing all along,” Mankarious said.
She explained the Houston program is the only Crime Stoppers in the world that has a brick-and-mortar building and that other programs look to them for leadership. She said over the years, thousands of have used the space for press conferences, media interviews, self-defense classes, public safety training school and more.
“It’s been incredible,” Mankarious added.
Although the past few months have not gone as expected, Crime Stoppers of Houston is still working at its mission of solving and preventing crime, like it has done for the past 40 years. This summer, it is just using a different channel.
Mankarious emphasized that while some of the programming is geared for children, parents of younger ones should supervise them, as they would during other online activity. Some classes are available in Spanish. To learn more about Crime Stoppers, its summer programming or to donate, visit https://crime-stoppers.org. To report a tip, call 713-222-TIPS.
tracy.maness@hcnonline.com
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