It’s a program transforming lives and reshaping futures across our community.
The Alternative Programs offers no-cash-bail alternatives to incarceration for youth and adult non-violent offenders in South Florida.
Tenth-grader Kairo Black is getting a second chance and making the most of it.
He’s part of The Alternative Programs’ rehabilitative youth initiative, focused on behavior, academics, and real-life skills for young people in, or at risk of entering the justice system.
“I first learned about this program during probation, signing up for probation and I decided to do an intake, and it did well,” Black said.
Participants take part in community service and character-building programs, helping them grow and give back.
Founded in 1982 by Georgia Jones-Ayers and then Miami-Dade State Attorney Janet Reno, the program offers alternatives to jail for non-violent offenders.
Today, Executive Director Kenneth Kilpatrick says the results speak for themselves.
“We have a very awesome success rate,” he said. “Recidivism is less than 5%. Once you get to us, the transformation is almost a guarantee, we’ve served tens of thousands of people.”
Kilpatrick said they have to look at public safety as a whole.
“So public safety is not just about enforcement, it’s about opportunities,” he continued. “So, the opportunities that we present also equals safer neighborhoods, safer communities.”
Board Vice Chair and longtime Miami journalist Bea L. Hines has supported the program from the start.
“It will make our community better, what helps your child, helps my child and it will trickle down,” Hines said.
For Kairo Black, the impact is already clear.
“My perspective on things has changed because I look at things more at the long route, like the way everything will go after I do something” he said.
Now, he’s focused on a fresh start and making better choices.
The Alternative Programs said it hopes to expand, reaching more qualifying participants across additional courtrooms, and growing its impact throughout north and south Miami-Dade.
