Red Hook Justice - Your Community. Your Court.

On Thursday, June 21st, the Red Hook Community Justice Center hosted an unveiling ceremony in partnership with  the  Groundswell Community Mural Project   for the new  mural  in our Youth Justice Programs room .  Groundswell brings together artists, youth, and community organizations to use art as a tool for social change. Their projects  beautify neighborhoods, engage youth in societal and personal transformation, and give expression to ideas and perspectives that are underrepresented in the public dialogue. Local youth from Red Hook and the greater South Brooklyn area were brought together via Groundswell's   Teen Empowerment Mural Apprenticeship (TEMA) : an after-school program, modeled on a traditional apprenticeship, in which teens create public art for community-based organizations, working in Groundswell's studio and with a particular emphasis on skills development.  Students pose in front of their work with staff from Groundswell and the Justice Center   At the

On Tuesday, June 19th, the Red Hook Community Justice Center hosted an end-of-season Photography Exhibit for the Spring 2012 JustArts: Photography program, in partnership with the Brooklyn Arts Council . The students showcased their best work based on their perspectives on the “Culture of Brooklyn,” and presented a video about their experiences in the program. The JustArts Photography Program is part of the Red Hook Community Justice Center’s Positive Youth Justice Initiative, which reframes the conversation about juvenile delinquency.  Instead of pathologizing court-involved youth and adolescent behavior, the Justice Center works to serve all young people within a positive youth development framework, drawing on their strengths as well as their potential to contribute to their communities.  Funding is provided by the  New York State Council on the Arts  and the  Robin Hood Foundation . Teen participants create a portrait studio at the Justice Center. This

Today the Justice Center received a visit from students at P.S. 15. The Patrick F. Daly School, a elementary school in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The Justice Center and P.S. 15 have a long history of working together to improve the neighborhood for some of its youngest residents. The students presented Justice Center staff with a check from their annual Penny Harvest fundraiser to help the Justice Center continue to provide programs and services to keep their neighborhood safe. To make the donation, the students voted on the issues that most concerned them and safety was one of their top choices. Thank you P.S. 15 and we’ll continue working hard to ensure Red Hook is safe and wonderful community to grow up in. Red Hook Community Justice Center Chief Clerk, Toni Bullock-Stallings; Deputy Project Director, Jessica Colon; and Judge Alex Calabrese with P.S. 15 students and their teachers.

For the past seven months the members of the Youth Advisory Board have been working with a team of graduate students from the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School and a New York Juvenile Justice Corps member from the Red Hook Community Justice Center to explore issues faced by young people in southwest Brooklyn. During this time the members of the Youth Advisory board have been identifying and investigating important questions about high school graduation rates and gang involvement in southwest Brooklyn. Throughout this process they have conducted interviews, handed out surveys, taken pictures and told their own stories. On Tuesday, May 29 th the members of the Youth Advisory Board screened a short video they made about these issues and presented the findings of their research to Justice Center staff, youth programs participants, faculty and administrators from The New School University , and community members. Teen members of t

Thanks to a partnership with the Groundswell Community Mural Project  and the hard work of a group of dedicated youth artists, Red Hook's Youth Justice Programs room now has a beautiful new mural, "Transform." To read the story of a teen who became involved in the mural project as a result of a community service requirement assigned to him by the Red Hook Youth Court , click here . Take a look below at photos of the final product as well as the work in progress.