We’re asking thought leaders, business people and creatives to talk about the upcoming new year and give us catalyzing ideas for making St. Pete a better place to live. What should our city look like? What are their hopes, their plans, their problem-solving ideas? This is Catalyze 2026.
Michael Mikurak believes that modern technology can have a profound influence on young people.
Since being named the interim CEO of the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County in June, he has prioritized strategies that can help local youth thrive and stay safe.
The organization, which was established by a special act of the Florida legislature, creates and invests in initiatives that benefit Pinellas County children and adolescents.
“One of the major goals I’m really hoping to achieve is to help parents, grandparents and caregivers get the experience and knowledge,” Mikurak explained, “to help save their children from online predators.”
He provided some alarming statistics to show the impact of cybercrimes nationally and regionally.
Currently, over 500,000 predators are active online every day. Additionally, there are approximately 800,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S. Nearly 2,000 of them are in Pinellas.
“The most discouraging thing at this point is that the gap between what parents know about technology and how their children use it is growing and expanding,” Mikurak said. “So, we really need to educate and engage parents and help them keep their kids safe online.”
Earlier this month, he announced a partnership with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office to help protect children from these types of crimes.
Parents, guardians and concerned citizens are now able to get a free annual subscription to Parent ProTech, which provides tools to help adults and their children navigate technologies such as social media and artificial intelligence.
“We wanted to take the cost issue out of this,” Mikurak explained. “We didn’t want parents to have to worry about how much it was going to cost or how to access it.”
The JWB team plans to actively keep track of progress.
“We’re monitoring it every step of the way. So, we’ll get reports from Parent ProTech on how many people are actually accessing it.”
He said that “getting the word out” is key. JWB is working with partners and funded providers to reach as many caregivers as possible.
JWB offers programs and initiatives for people between the ages of 0 and 17. Mikurak explained that the organization has been focusing heavily on preventative programs for young children and infants in the past few years.
“We need to refocus in a number of ways and that’s what we are doing in our strategic sessions as we speak,” he said. “From 10 to 17, we need to ensure that we’re continuing to provide programs and value for those children as well. That means we really need to think about what their future is going to be.”
Safety is just one aspect.
The JWB team is actively working on how to help these adolescents thrive in trade careers. Specific industries like construction, carpentry and automobile services will not be eliminated even in an age of advanced technology, Mikurak added.
“That’s economic development. That’s clearly a way of focusing on how we can grow our community and Pinellas County,” he said. “Our board is going to have to make those decisions on what strategic changes are made in any programs we have.”
Mikurak explained that JWB is currently collaborating with a consulting group to assist with direction.
“We’ve been focusing on what the future looks like and how we adapt that to today,” he said. “But, clearly, what’s most important is that we are planning on a two-year strategy. We’re not thinking about five or 10 years from now, because technology and other things are changing so dramatically.”
Read the article as originally published at https://stpetecatalyst.com/catalyze-2026-michael-mikurak-jwb/
