Just a day after the number of Toronto's gun-related deaths reached 50, a pilot-project to educate youth living in vulnerable neighbourhoods saw its first graduates.

Ten youth took part in the program, called the Jane-Finch Introduction to Multi-Media Pilot Project. Students had 10 weeks of intensive training, learning about media and even publishing a magazine.

"I just want to hope that in the future there are a lot more programs like this," graduate Kadafi Farquharson told reporters. "Because we need a lot, lot, lot more programs like this to get more kids off the street."

Farquharson and the other graduates accepted their diplomas from Mayor David Miller himself. The program was part of Miller's Community Safety Plan and cost the city $27,000.

"We have to make sure our young people grow up safely, and we have to make sure they have a chance," Miller told CTV News. "If they don't have a chance, they get sucked into the gun and gang culture. Programs like the one we're at today give young people a real chance."

The pilot project was aimed at youth aged 16 to 24, and designed to give them new employment opportunities. After training, students were given placements in various organizations for at least two weeks.

The program also emphasized arts and cultural expression, as well as civic involvement and violence prevention.

Drop-in programs remain closed

Meanwhile, three of the city's youth drop-in programs remain closed. Miller has been criticized for the closings, which he calls a response to increased gang violence.

Toronto now enters its worst murder-rate since 1991, with the latest shooting victim the city's 74th homicide.

Two school-based drop-programs were closed last week, both in the Keele Street and Eglinton Avenue area, along with another run by Toronto Community Housing Corp.

Miller justified the closings Thursday, saying he was concerned about safety conditions for the workers.

"The people who work there have got to be safe. That's the first priority," Miller told The Globe and Mail.

One of Miller's political rivals, councillor Jane Pitfield, called the closings "a bit of a knee-jerk reaction."

"I would have thought keeping them open made more sense. When a door shuts, you lose participants, and sometimes they don't come back," she told The Globe and Mail.

The family of murdered teenager Amon Beckles has said it wants the programs re-opened as soon as possible. Miller has responded by setting a date for January, as long as funding permits.

Councillor Michael Thompson suggested that drop-in program employees troubled by the violence could try a rotating work schedule, in order to keep the programs going.

With a report by CTV's Galit Solomon