Skip to main content

Celebrating 13 Years of the Red Hook Community Justice Center

The Red Hook Community Justice Center reopened in record time after Hurricane Sandy


Here's to 13 more amazing years in Red Hook!

The staff of the Red Hook Community Justice Center gathered this afternoon for a luncheon in celebration of 13 years of problem-solving justice in southwest Brooklyn, and in honor of the extraordinary efforts of the Office of Court Administration and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to restore and reopen the building after Hurricane Sandy
 
We honored Lieutenant Robert "Bobby" Vitucci with the Above & Beyond Award for his exemplary leadership and tireless dedication to the Red Hook Community Justice Center in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  In accepting the award, Lieutenant Vitucci emphasized that the 16+ agencies that inhabit the Justice Center "work together as one family, always."
 
 
 
 
Presiding Judge, Hon. Alex Calabrese, reflected on the wide-ranging influence that the Justice Center has nationally and internationally, citing the 200+ site visits we host each year -- in May alone, the Justice Center will welcome visitors from NYU Law School's U.S. Asia Law Institute, John Jay College, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Bulgaria, and Israel. 
 
 
 
Judge Calabrese also acknowledged the incredible work of the Justice Center's staff, highlighting the efforts of Jackie Soto and Stephanie Lovett (the dynamic duo of the Alternative Sanctions Office).
 

 
 
And, of course, no anniversary celebration would be complete without food.
 
   
 
 
****
 
But even as we pause to reflect on the Red Hook Community Justice Center's first 13 years, and the important role it has and continues to play in Red Hook's storied turnaround...
 
Red Hook featured in Life Magazine, July of 1988
 
Covering the 1992 murder of Red Hook's elementary school principal, Patrick Daley, the New York Times wrote:  "In a neighborhood that saw 20 murders, 10 rapes, 526 robberies and 364 assaults last year, the sound of gunfire was not extraordinary."
 
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in 2000
 
 
...I believe the best is yet to come!
 
"Transform"
 
 
Happy Birthday,
Julian

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Peacemaking in Red Hook

Raymond Deal, Traditional Program Specialist, Shiprock District Court, Navajo Nation and Gloria Benally, Program Coordinator, Navajo Nation, train future Red Hook Peacemakers After an intensely trying period in Red Hook in the weeks following Hurricane Sandy, building, strenghtening, and healing relationships between residents and organizations has become crucial. This past weekend, we took a step towards preparing the neighborhood for the hard work ahead with a two-day workshop with peacemakers from the Navajo Nation for residents we are training to serve as peacemakers here in Red Hook. A new project from the Center for Court Innovation's Tribal Justice Exchange , peacemaking is a traditional Native American approach to justice. While the exact form peacemaking takes varies among tribes, it usually consists of one or more peacemakers—often community elders—who gently guide a conversation involving not only those directly involved in an offense or conflict but family

Supporting the Staten Island Youth Justice Center at "Inside/Outside Legislative Theatre" Performance

On June 4th, a group of the Red Hook Youth Court members and staff went to see the "Theater of the Oppressed NYC" performance at the New School. Before attending this event, the youth court members had no idea that anything like this went on! While there, we learned that 12 different legislative laws were changed through something called "Legislative Theatre." The audience members get to be "spect-actors," which is great because the actual audience members got to participate in the play themselves and share their ideas. The performances last night were put on by members of the Staten Island Youth Justice Center (part of the Center for Court Innovation Family). These two plays dealt with real life issues such as getting stopped for not paying your bus fare, arriving late to school and getting sent to the principal's office because of the "zero tolerance policy," getting into fights at school, not knowing one's rights, and being raciall