Red Hook Justice - Your Community. Your Court.

“You were just doing something, right? Let me take [these pieces] for now, until I get to something simple. But real strategists don’t think like that…the first thing I did was figure out the whole game…If you don’t know the strategy, nothing’s going to help you. You’re going to lose.”  Yesterday afternoon, the Justice Center welcomed International Grandmaster of chess Maurice Ashley to teach the first session of our new chess program, " Think Before You Move , " an  innovative new initiative designed to  teach critical thinking and decision-making skills to young people through the medium of chess.  A group of teens ranging in age from 12 to 17 years old and drawn from both the South Brooklyn area and our adolescent diversion and family court programs, channeled their energy and focus on deconstructing the strategy behind a series of short games. Mr. Ashley challenged his students to look beyond the simple rules he had laid out for them in order to see how br...

The Red Hook Community Justice Center's JustArts initiative is partnering with   Kentler International Drawing Space 's K.I.D.S. Art Education Program to present  Make Your Mark!  this fall. Last week, youth age 11-13 from our catchment area began working with teaching artist Meghan Keane to develop their drawing skills, learn to express themselves through drawing, and craft a personal style. Take a look at our slideshow of the most recent session of  Make Your Mark!  in which students worked on a project based on the gallery's current show, "To Be Young, Gifted and Black in the Age of Obama":

The Red Hook Community Justice Center (RHCJC) is partnering with International Chess Grand Master Maurice Ashley to run an innovative chess initiative called “Think before You Move” for Brooklyn Teens. The program will run for four weeks starting Oct. 25. The goal of Think before You Move is to teach critical thinking skills to young people through the medium of chess. Research has shown that chess instruction helps develop these thinking skills and prepares students to better approach problems, strengthen their personal discipline, counter negative peer pressure and exhibit greater self-control. Learning these skills through chess also helps enhance the students’ self-esteem as well as promote success in the classroom, the work-place and their personal lives. The program is open to local teens age 12-18. The program will also be an alternative diversion program for teens that have committed minor offenses and need to improve their decision making skills. Abou...

The New York Juvenile Justice Corps is off to another great start. We’ve just entered our third year of operation and completed the first week of orientation and training. Established in 2010, the New York Juvenile Justice Corps is an AmeriCorps service program that seeks to prevent young people in New York City from becoming enmeshed in the criminal justice system. The Corps is comprised of 58 members that primarily come from New York City. Members work with hundreds of young people every year and serve at CCI projects including: Harlem, Red Hook, Brownsville, Midtown, Staten Island Ready, QUEST, CCI's Youth Courts, the Attendance Achievement Program and the Youth Justice Board. Members also serve with our partners at the John Jay College Office of Community Outreach and Service Learning , and the Office of Children and Family Services. In addition to serving thousands of young people throughout the five boroughs, the Corps is also designed to give members a...

Monday was a very special night for eight court-involved Brooklyn teens. As participants in the Young New Yorkers program, these young people were given the opportunity to fulfill their court requirements by participating in a restorative justice arts program. Through a partnership with the Justice Center's Adolescent Diversion Program (ADP)--part of a statewide initiative to divert 16 and 17 year olds from criminal court and connect them to social services while allowing them to avoid the collateral consequences of a criminal record--this group of young people participated in a series of workshops centered around a c urriculum designed to develop the emotional and behavioral skills of the young participants while facilitating responsible and creative self expression.  A participant shares his experience The workshops culminate in the design of a public art installation that gives voice to the otherwise voiceless and voteless adolescents being tried in New York's adult cri...

The Justice Center played host yesterday to two celebrations of the amazing young people that we have worked with this summer. Our first event was the graduation of sixteen interns from our High School Summer Internship Program.  The seven-week program involved two weeks of training at the Justice Center in skills like resume and cover letter writing, interviewing, and other skills necessary to succeed in the working world. For the following five weeks, interns were placed in a variety of sites throughout our catchment area including the Groundswell Community Mural Project , Community Board 7 , The Diamond Law Firm, The Red Hook Star Revue , Youth Made Media , the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation , Fireflies New York, Caselnova Restaurant , Beth Elohim Summer Camp , and SUNY Downstate Medical Center . Family, friends, internship supervisors, and Justice Center staff all came together to congratulate the interns on their hard work. A highlight of the event was hear...

Last week, high school students participating in the Justice Center’s summer youth programs took a break from serving as youth court members and interns at local businesses to spend the day exploring the role of higher education in their futures. Having watched all of last year’s graduating seniors from the Red Hook Youth Court go on to attend a stellar list of colleges and universities, these high schoolers were eager to learn about what the two schools they toured, Rutgers University in New Brunswick and Princeton University , might have to offer towards reaching their goals. As young people already actively involved in their communities, speaking with representatives from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs gave many students a taste of how they could put that experience into practice towards a career by studying public policy. At the end of the day, all students gained a better sense of what the college application process and campus life are ...

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...

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.