All area parents and children are encouraged to attend Safe Cyber Choices…an interactive forum to help protect our youth now and into the future at the Foglia YMCA, 1025 N. Old McHenry RD, Lake Zurich on Saturday, Jan. 25 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The Foglia YMCA Board of Directors will bring two industry leaders together to explore and facilitate an engaging discussion about keeping kids safe as they navigate through social media and the internet.

The presentation is geared toward 9-14 year-olds, providing specific tools to help keep them safe and secure throughout the cyber word, protecting their reputations and identifying sex trafficking practices they may be exposed to. Tips will be given about how to avoid those types of lures.

The program is FREE, open to all area residents, with online registration available at www.fogliaymca.org. Space will be limited so early registration is encouraged.

Guest speakers will be Chris Baker and Todd Spight. Baker is an award-winning tattoo artist who founded the INK 180 Ministry to provide a second chance to people by removing tattoos that defined their past. He has also worked with the FBI, Homeland Security, the US Department of Justice and US Attorney’s Office and has become a national speaker about social media safety, sex trafficking and gang intervention.

Spight is a certified information systems security professional (CISSP) and chief security officer at Net56, Inc. He has conducted numerous classes on internet safety for young people, including school districts, corporations and at Northwestern University. He stresses the importance of safeguarding one’s cyber footprint today as well as their identity and reputation in the future. His presentations are geared toward young people.