Anti-Violence Initiative Improves Child Safety in Unique Trolley Program

Albany, New York is home to the innovative anti-violence ENOUGH Initiative, developed by Pastor Charlie Muller from Victory Christian Church, in conjunction with the Albany, New York County District Attorney David Soares. Victory Christian Church is a non-denominational Christian Church located in Albany, New York with a mission to be active in the community and build positive programs for kids in the inner-city.

The ENOUGH Initiative was designed to build positive, anti-violence youth opportunities including various initiatives such as a free trolley transportation program to organized activities, programs to get guns off the streets, food programs, organizing events where children can play safely, and more.

Offering organized after-school and summer activities provide an opportunity for kids to stay busy in a safe environment. To help enable the city’s youth to get to these activities, a unique trolley program was established to provide accessible, free transportation. However, getting large groups of children to the sponsored activities and associated locations in an organized, trackable and safe manner initially presented Victory Christian Church with a challenge.

To help keep the children safe and better track them both on the trolleys, as well as at the associated activity locations, ENOUGH implemented KidCheck’s easy-to-use, secure children’s check-in solution. “We are very pleased with KidCheck’s extensive security features and comprehensive reporting capabilities,” said Mark Pratt, Treasurer of the ENOUGH Programs. “The system is easy-to-use, has improved safety and allows me to both quickly access information for a child in our care if needed, and report on activity and attendance to understand ratios and trends”.

Children participating in the trolley program use KidCheck’s youth self check-in cards, which have a unique security barcode generated by the KidCheck system, to quickly, easily and safely check themselves on and off the trolley, as well as in to and out of the activity locations. Each trolley is equipped with a wireless laptop loaded with the KidCheck program and a barcode scanner. The barcode on each child’s card is scanned whenever they board or exit the trolley. This creates a unique check-in record providing real-time information for the church, as well as comprehensive reporting capabilities.

The self check-in cards contain no personal information beyond the child’s name, medical/allergy alerts, their photo and the name and phone number of the ENOUGH Program. Once a child is checked-in with their unique barcode, the trolley staff has access to any needed information to ensure the safety of the children in their care.

Pertinent information for each child, such as adult contact information, authorized and unauthorized guardians and any needed medical or allergy alerts, is generated from the free KidCheck account created and maintained by the child’s parent or guardian. For additional peace-of-mind and to help with overall communication, parents that have enabled text messaging notifications will receive an automatic text message each time their child checks-in or out of the trolley or activity location.

Pratt continues, “Not only is KidCheck service and support readily available to assist should a question arise, they went the extra mile to build some additional functionality into the system specifically to meet our unique needs.”

As for KidCheck, Alex Smith CEO states, “We are honored to be involved in such an inspiring initiative as the ENOUGH Trolley program. They are certainly making a difference for the youth and the community in Albany, and we’re excited to be a part of it.”