Keeping Every Youth Safe (KEYS) is a program by the Crime Prevention Association of Toronto, designed to teach and equip parents, educators, children and youth with the essential tools they need to proactively maintain safety for themselves in their environment.
KEYS is an interactive program which engages the participants through presentations, role playing, activities and facilitated discussions to encourage learning. The program helps children, youth and parents by providing them with information about varied crime prevention topics giving them strategies and alternatives to make safe and healthy choices.
Presentations are available on the following topics:
3D - Drinking, Drugs & Dating - gives youth the facts they need to know about under-aged drinking, drug use and dating violence. This takes the form of a non-judgmental, facilitated discussion and is generally geared towards youth ages 1 –18.
Each One Reach One - is a community–based program that involves and empowers youth sitting on a committee to brainstorm and implement crime prevention strategies based on daily youth-centered issues. Youth are able to explore and deliver topics to their peers through community events and presentations.
Fire and Water Wise - teaches children how to avoid a fire and what to do in the event of a fire or fire related emergency. It also teaches children how to play safe in the water at home and outdoors. This program caters to children ages 4 – 8.
Girl Power - is an anti-bullying presentation that focuses on girl-on-girl bullying. It addresses the differences between girl and boy bullying from the angle of the bully, the bullied and the bystander. It further inspires discussion on contributing factors such as competition, guys and media influences. Specifically for girls ages 12-17.
Internet Intellect – educates youth about the dangers of the internet including internet addiction, online predators, online gambling, unregulated websites and cyber-bullying. This program focuses on youth ages 11 - 17.
Stranger Smarts I and II - teaches children what a stranger is and what to do during and after an encounter with a stranger. This program is geared to children ages 4 - 7.
Street Proofing I & II - teaches youth how to be safe on the street, at home and at school. Level I for children ages 4-8 emphasizes stranger danger and Level II for ages 8-11 emphasizes street smarts in the daily activities outside the home.
Take a Stand - An Anti-Bullying Program - teaches the bully, the bullied and the bystander how to take a stand against bullying and how to respect themselves and others. This takes the form of activities, role playing and discussion geared to youth ages 6 - 16.
The Violence Prevention Workshop- is an interactive, 4-session workshop where participants explore the root causes of violence, alternatives to violence and the formula of conflict resolution through movie clips, role playing and open discussion. Geared specifically to youth ages 12-18.
Youth and the Law - teaches youth the truth about coming into conflict with the law. It focuses on violent crime, issues of gang activity, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, youth probation, juvenile detention centres, and youth records. This program is primarily geared to youth ages 8 - 18.
KEYS for Parents
In addition to providing youth with the tools they need to be safe and crime-free in school based and community settings, the program provides parents the same learning opportunity. “KEYS for Parents” is designed as an educational tool to inform, empower and equip parents to address issues of safety head on. Workshops cover the same topics and parents are given facts, information and strategies to reinforce the material on an ongoing basis.
With changing youth culture, parents need to be kept up-to-date with common unsafe practices and issues of the safety that their children face on a daily basis from encounters with strangers to bullying, to drug use, under aged drinking and violent or unhealthy dating relationships. Through proven strategies, parents are encouraged to address these issues in an open manner creating a comfortable environment for reporting and get help if needed.
Please contact CPAT and ask for the Crime Prevention and Youth Coordinator to book a presentation.
Download Links are available below.
Talking to Your Kids About Street Safety
Talking to Your Kids About Dating Violence
Internet Safety - A Resource for Parents
Taking a Stand: The Truth About Bullying
For the General Keys Brochure, with a complete list of the available presentations, click here.
