PARRAMORE, Fla. —  As part of the ongoing discussion surrounding racial disparities in America, we’re looking at life in our local communities and examining the issues to help ensure Justice For All.

What You Need To Know

The sounds of laughter and learning are what you’ll typically hear at the New Image Youth Center in Parramore.

 A safe haven from what many face just outside these walls.

“Sometime I get teary eyed," said Parramore resident Mickel Cross. "Pay me no mind- because New Image has changed me a lot."

Cross grew up in Parramore, and now is raising her own 10 children here.

She told us New Image and founder Dr. Shanta Barton-Stubbs have not only supported her children and invested in their success, they’ve done the same for her. Cross, who never graduated high school, is now working on her GED.

“I was one of the ones who wouldn’t reach out because I was afraid to be turned down," Cross said.

Education is one priority at New Image. Daily meals and crisis intervention are also services offered free of charge.

Barton-Stubbs founded New Image 16 years ago.

“There are a lot of things that were promised to the residents and the community as a whole that we’re not seeing happening," she said.

The Parramore community is in zip code 32805, where — according to a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2014- 2018, for people reporting one race alone — 75.9 percent were Black or African American. Nearly 21 percent did not complete high school and the median income for a household was about $26,500.

Neighboring zip code 32804 includes College Park.

In that zip code, the survey indicated 86 percent of people reporting one race alone were white. Just over 4 percent didn’t complete high school and the median income of households there was close to $73,000.”

“It’s sad to think that literally 2 miles down the road, there is such a change of life," says Barton-Stubbs.

And while Cross may have stayed in Parramore, she’s not letting it define her future, or her children’s.

“I’m a mother of 10 and still pushing," she said. "I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to let what they say about the Parramore area bring me down."

Since 2001, 41 New Image members have graduated high school, and 14 have gone onto post-secondary degrees.