HOUSTON – Many kids live close enough to school they walk instead of ride, but a high profile crime involving an 11-year-old has a neighborhood watching out for kids on the way to class.
Neighbors will launch a new program "Safe Walk Home Northside" on Monday morning as kids head back to school.
The goal is for the community to make sure students get to and from school safely.
Josue Flores never made it home. The 11-year-old boy was stabbed to death three months ago as he walked home from school.
His murder rattled neighbors into changing their community.
At least 100 folks have signed up to stand in their yards or porches to monitor the streets.
“We're hoping that the training and that the involvement all summer long will show and show the effects of a community being deeply moved by what happened and our prayers are that it will never happen again,” Stella Mireles Walters, organizer of Safe Walk Home Northside, said.
The goal is to keep the volunteer-based program going all school year.
Houston police are also boosting patrols in the area.
Most school buses don't pick up students if they live a mile or less from school, and in neighborhoods like these, many of them walk.
#SafeWalkHomeNorthside is officially up and running 3 months after murder of #JosueFlores #khou11 pic.twitter.com/t4goHJDeAI
— Melissa Correa (@MCorreaKHOU) August 22, 2016