 Welcome to CityView, where we give you an inside view of the City of Columbia. I'm your host, Alicia Utsi. In our top story, we announce the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Together We Can Read, which is a reading partnership between the City of Columbia and Richland School District 1. The concept was founded by Councilwoman Tamika Isaac Devine, who also kicked off the press conference this year, and told us more about how this initiative has impacted the City. In the 10 years that we've been doing this program, more than 20,000 Richland School District 1 third grade students have gone through this program, and we've had more than 1,000 volunteers. The initiative has three main objectives, one, to build a strong community and to enlighten the lives of our youth, two, to introduce and support the importance of reading to children and encouraging children to have a passion for reading, and three, to allow community volunteers like you, our guest readers, a front row seat to witness the innovations and instruction taking place in Richland School District 1. Another youth initiative that the City of Columbia has been involved with for many years is National Youth Violence Prevention Week. And this year, the Parks and Recreation Department and the Columbia Police Department partnered together to come out into the community and engage our youth. Youth violence, as we all know, too well is widespread and becoming much too commonplace in society and the consequences of such risky behavior among our youth is further compounded by the availability of firearms. Unfortunately, we see this trend every day in our city just last month. We had a 14-year-old that was shot and killed by another youth during an argument over a video game. A young life lost and a family affected forever. This is a public health crisis that needs everyone's attention and action to address effectively. Another national youth initiative that was recently trending was March for Our Lives and Columbia, South Carolina also had citizens who were involved in this initiative. City officials also engaged our community by showing up to speak to the large crowd at the State House. I remember my very first march in the state capital, gosh, 30 years ago, as an 18-year-old young person marching to take the flag off of our state capitol, and now to be here with my daughter and the children of so many people I love and I've worked with over so many years to be able to walk and hold hands with the Pinckney family who gave so much to help this state move forward, to help people understand that I love, not hate. Love, not hate defines South Carolina. It's not an issue of being a Republican or Democrat, black or white living in an urban area or a rural area. It's about all of us. We all have something in common. We're all parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, and we have to do this for our children. The Columbia Fire Department once again participated in their annual M.D.A. Boot Drive to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. We were able to catch up with Chief Aubrey Jenkins at one of the locations where donations were being taken. This is something that all firefighters look forward to doing every year. So we're out here on very street corners collecting money for Jerry's kids, you know, because this is something that is near and dear to all of our hearts to try to find, help with research and try to find a cure for disease. Good news for the City of Columbia. Multiple city departments were recently recognized by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce Safety Award program. City of Columbia locations business license, 911 call center, the accounting division, administration, City Hall, budget, Columbia Canal water treatment plant, economic development, information technology, legal department, municipal operations, parking services, payment center, planning and development services, procurement and contracts, traffic and engineering, two notch development corporation, utilities and engineering, and finally animal services with the City of Columbia. Another annual tradition in our city is the Mayor's Easter extravaganza. Again this year the event was held at Philly Park and we were able to talk to Mayor Steve Benjamin and his wife First Lady Deandrea Benjamin. It's a wonderful opportunity for us to start off this season with families in downtown beautiful Columbia South Carolina. It's so great to see families come out and have a good time and also get a chance to work out and be healthy. Family fun and fitness and healthy food. They're doing exercises and dancing back here. We have bounce houses, the new playground here at Philly Park. The kids over there are working. The idea is to move. Let's move and that's what we're doing today. And as always the City of Columbia participated in the St. Patrick's Day Festival in five points. The highlight was the parade which kicked off the event that morning. Participating in this year's St. Patrick's Day parade was Mayor Steve Benjamin and Councilman Howard DeVall. They were joined by children from the community and as always everyone was excited to see our city officials. Well that wraps up this episode of City View where we give you an inside view of the City of Columbia. We appreciate you watching City TV and stay tuned for local news and events. You can also visit our website at columbiasc.net for information and make sure you follow us on our social media platforms. And as always remember we are Columbia.