Red Hook Celebrates National Night Out!

Yesterday the Red Hook community came together to celebrate our 18^th annual National Night Out Against Crime. This long-standing event is in partnership with the Red Hook Community Justice Center, the NYPD 76^th Precinct and PSA 1 Housing Police, Kings County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Office of Court Administration, and the New York Juvenile Justice Corps. This event provides an opportunity for residents, law enforcement and local organizations to come together, break down barriers, and take a stand against violence in our communities.

Hundreds of neighbors gathered in Red Hook’s Coffey Park for the festivities, food, positive messages, and a community resource fair with over 40 local organizations. Some highlights from the day included an anti-violence poetry slam by our local young poets, an exhibit of art work by young teens from the Justice Center’s art program, a Cops and Kids baseball game, and a teen dating violence PSA from the Justice Center’s Youth Echo program. And of course, there were plenty of fun activities including, pony rides, face painting, cotton candy, Youth Olympics, and an impromptu electric slide dance-off!

Local dignitaries and elected officials also came out and called for the community to come together and work with law enforcement to combat violence. Speakers included Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles Hynes, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, 76^th Precinct Police Captain Jeffrey Schiff, City Council Members Sara Gonzalez and Brad Lander, Housing Police Captain Carlos Valdez, Felix Palacios of Council Speaker Quinn’s Office, Andrew Olsen of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit, and our own, Honorable Judge Calabrese.

Collaboration and unity like we saw yesterday in Coffey Park has been critical to making the 76^th precinct among Brooklyn’s safest and will continue to strengthen our community in years to come.

The pictures below were taken by local teen participants in the Justice Center's JustArts Photography Program:

Cops and Kids Baseball Game

A New York Juvenile Justice Corps member shares his poem during the Anti-Violence Poetry Slam

Residents and Volunteers Join in for an Impromptu Electric Slide Dance Off!

The Red Hook Baseball League thank Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes and City Council Member Sara Gonzalez for their continued support of the league and the neighborhood.

Pony Rides are always a hit!

Residents Celebrating a beautiful evening in Red Hook.

Comments

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

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)

Red Hook Justice - Your Community. Your Court.

Search This Blog