Skip to main content

Bridging the Gap: Youth, Community and Police



Bridging the Gap: Youth, Community and Police


On Tuesday July 19th, the department of Youth and Community Programs created and implemented an event titled “Bridging the Gap: Youth, Community and Police”



The principal objective of the event was to educate our youth and community members on how to rebuild and improve relationships with police, and allow them a safe space to interact and get to know one another on a person level.
 
A few community officers from the local Police Service Area One (PSA1) precinct in Red Hook, joined us along with some of our youth program participants, Peacemakers and Justice Center staff. Some of the conversations included what it takes to become a police officer, what is life like as an officer and much more. Using a circle process, everyone had a chance to ask questions, voice their own opinion and share stories. It was a very powerful event and gave everyone a chance to break down stereo-types around officers and humanize them. Many of the officers talked about their personal experiences on and off the job and related with the Youth in many ways.



With many of the unfortunate current events involving police happening around the world this couldn’t have taken place at a better time. People around the world are advocating for changes and want to repair not only the justice system but relationships with the community and law enforcement. We were able begin initiating the steps to improve relationships and contributing to the much needed change, specifically locally here in the Red Hook community. 

Overall it was a huge success and opened the minds of all of our participants. We are looking forward to creating similar events to help bridge the gap between the youth community and police.

 
Everyone joined together for a group photo!


As a thank you for their participation the officers received awards, goodie bags with Justice Center promotional items and tees!


#GOREDHOOK








 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

Rent, Repairs, and Rights: A Guide to Housing Court for NYCHA Tenants

 Lillian Marshall, Tenant Association President of Red Hook West (left) and Naureen Rashid, Director of Court Operations Dorothy Shields, Tenant Association President of Red Hook East (Left) and Naureen Rashid, Director of Court Operations  Hon. Alex Calabrese, Presiding Judge of the Red Hook Community Justice Center   Graphic Designer Jenny Kutnow  Clara Amenyo from the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)  

Youth Advisory Board presents findings on the needs of Brooklyn youth to scholars and community

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...