Dallas ‘Summer of Safety' initiative offers free tickets and activities for kids and teens

The goal is to keep kids busy and keep crime low as kids enter the summer months

Thursday morning, Dallas city leaders shared more details about this year's 'Summer of Safety' campaign, which provides dozens of free and low-cost activities for kids and teens across the city. Teens get access to free tickets to different sporting events, museums, and other events around the city.

The City of Dallas offers the program to help parents in need of activities for their kids, which also provides a way to keep kids out of trouble. According to the city mayor, statistically, crime goes up in major cities during the summer months.

"Here in this city, we decided that we are not going to accept that as the reality for our city," said Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson.

The mayor, along with the new police chief Daniel Comeaux, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, along with Dallas Park and Recreation, the Dallas Public Library and Dallas ISD, spoke at Singing Hills Recreation Center about the summer program.

The mayor said they've had much success with the program over the last three years.

“This is incredible y’all, since we’ve done that, we’ve seen crime decline in Dallas during the summer months, that doesn’t happen anywhere that the crime goes down in the summer, but that’s been happening here," said Johnson.

Chief Comeaux said his officers plan to reach out more to the community and have programs that build relationships with kids and teens.

 "We're going to be present, we're going to be engaged in the community," said Comeaux.

Children will have access to aquatic centers, community pools and spray grounds this summer. Meanwhile, recreation centers will offer hundreds of workshops and classes for kids of all ages.

"What I can tell you this program truly does, is that it's changing lives," said Bizor Tolbert.

Teens, ages 13-17, will be able to get an "All-Access Pass" starting on June 30 that will allow them free access to places like The Dallas Arboretum, Bahama Beach, the Perot Museum, City of Dallas Golf course, Southern Skates Roller Rink, museums, nature centers, arts and cultural events and many other activities.

There's also the 'Mayor's Youth Sports Ticket Program' which offers kids 12-17 tickets to attend professional, collegiate and amateur sporting events for free.

The Dallas Public Library, which has 30 locations, is also offering many activities for kids of all ages. Start on May 31 to Aug 9, kids from birth to 18 can get free books as part of the annual SMART Summer Learning program.

Kids can also have the opportunity to win bikes, gaming consoles and other prizes as a reward for reading and continuing their education.

"Kids need a safe place to go where they feel included and welcomed, but also have something fun and educational to do," said Heather Lowe, interim director of the Dallas Public Library.

Learn more about each program at the City of Dallas website.