For the Media

The Brooklyn Community That Wants Youth to Stop Shooting and Start Living

The Brooklyn Community That Wants Youth to Stop Shooting and Start Living

NBC

NBC profiles our Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) program, which works in Brooklyn and the Bronx to stop shootings by building community relationships and connecting young people to support. Hear from Rahson Johnson, a violence interrupter and youth advocate with our S.O.S. team, who uses his lived experience with gun violence and the prison system to help guide children towards a better path. “The challenge for me was going back to the community that I wanted to destroy, that I was hurt by, and being able to make change,” Johnson tells NBC’s Maya Brown.

These new Staten Island programs aim to positively engage youth, prevent violence

These new Staten Island programs aim to positively engage youth, prevent violence

SILive

With support from Richmond County District Attorney Michael E. McMahon and NYC Council Member Kamillah Hanks, the Center announced several new youth programs coming to its Staten Island Justice Center. Ranging from restorative justice to placekeeping to entrepreneurship programming, these initiatives will create lasting safety by investing in young people’s passions and neighborhoods. “In addition to directly engaging more community members, this project will pave the way for enhanced collaboration with other community organizations,” said Sonila Kada, the director of Staten Island Justice Center.

Center for Justice Innovation Launches Street Action Network

Center for Justice Innovation Launches Street Action Network

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Robert Abruzzese recaps the official launch of our Street Action Network at the Brooklyn Public Library. The Street Action Network is a community research initiative that draws on the expertise of people with firsthand experience and high social capital in the streets to end gun violence. Hear from Co-Directors Basaime Spate and Javonte Alexander, as well as NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and our executive director, Courtney Bryan. Spate and Alexander take us through their experience with street networks, community research, and growing up as Black men in New York City while exploring the mission behind this new initiative.

Next Gen Mental Health Advocates Blossom in Brownsville

Next Gen Mental Health Advocates Blossom in Brownsville

BKReader

Brownsville, Brooklyn, gained 19 young mental health advocates thanks to the B-Well program, a collaboration between the Brownsville Community Justice Center, Transformation Counseling Services, and Pitkin Ave BID. A cohort of young adults aged 16 to 24 gathered each week to learn how to care for themselves, their mental health, and the broader community in an initiative funded through participatory budgeting. “We would love to have this program again to continue to raise awareness and create a large network of mental health advocates throughout the community,” said Mallory Thatch, senior program manager at Brownsville Community Justice Center.

Brooklyn youth rally calls for end to gun violence, hails summer start

Brooklyn youth rally calls for end to gun violence, hails summer start

MSN

Our RISE team joined residents, New York City Council Member Farah Louis, and other community organizations like Sports United to rally for a violence-free summer with a basketball tournament and youth resource fair in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The event, in recognition of Gun Violence Awareness Month, brought the community together for a day of fun, performance, and urgent calls for an end to gun violence from respected leaders in the community.

Brooklyn youth host ‘Walk Out’, rally to take stand against gun violence

Brooklyn youth host ‘Walk Out’, rally to take stand against gun violence

News 12

Dozens of middle school students from Launch Charter School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, joined up with our Save Our Streets team, school staff, and other members of the community to stage a walkout against gun violence to kick off Gun Violence Awareness Month. The walkout came after the young people spent months learning about the impacts of gun violence on their communities and many others. “They want the community to know that they're here and they're making noise to show that enough is enough. Gun violence needs to stop,” said Anthony Rowe, project director of our Neighbors in Action program.

Opinion: New York’s Legislature Must Act to Address Utility Outages in NYCHA

Opinion: New York’s Legislature Must Act to Address Utility Outages in NYCHA

City Limits

For months, 113 households in NYCHA's Red Hook West Houses have gone without cooking gas; but an analysis by a group of law students in partnership with our Red Hook Community Justice Center found that such outages are far from unusual in New York City public housing. It also found that residents of public housing go without some key legal protections enjoyed by private tenants, making it harder for them to find accountability for outages and poor conditions. This opinion piece in City Limits makes the case for statewide reforms to provide relief for NYCHA residents living with utility outages, arguing that New York's warranty of habitability applies to all residents—not just those in private housing.

Students Walk Out Over Gun Violence That Is Close to Home

Students Walk Out Over Gun Violence That Is Close to Home

The New York Times

More than 100 students in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, took a bold stand against gun violence in their own communities by participating in a walkout to mark the beginning of Gun Violence Awareness Month. The walkout was planned with support from the Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School in collaboration with our Save Our Streets Brooklyn team, which works to prevent shootings and bring positive resources to young people at risk of getting involved in gun violence. Read more about the walkout, and the months of study and reflection that went into it, in the New York Times.

People With Serious Mental Illness Need Housing, Not Jail

People With Serious Mental Illness Need Housing, Not Jail

Vital City

Who winds up on Rikers Island and why? What will it take to close the troubled jail complex? Those are some critical questions raised in Vital City’s special issue on New York City’s jails. In their contribution to the issue, our policy experts Daniel Ades and Virginia Barber Rioja make the case for investing in supportive housing, not jail, for people with serious mental illness—a desperately needed alternative that is cheaper, more humane, and safer for us all.

Turning the Gears of Justice: A Conversation with Chidinma Ume and Erin Pilnyak

Turning the Gears of Justice: A Conversation with Chidinma Ume and Erin Pilnyak

Vital City

In Vital City’s special issue on New York City’s jails, Chidinma Ume, Senior Director of Community Justice at the Center, joins IntegrAssure’s Erin Pilnyak to share what it was like to be part of a citywide effort to reduce unnecessary case delays that leave people languishing in jail. Their conversation sheds light on how collaboration, data, and what Ume calls “a combination of patience and urgency” can help us safely reduce jail populations and ensure all people are treated with dignity as they navigate the legal system.

NYC’s youngest fatal shooting victim this year remembered with a call to action

NYC’s youngest fatal shooting victim this year remembered with a call to action

Gothamist

Family members, friends, and neighbors gathered at a playground in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to remember Troy Gill, a 13-year-old boy who was lost to gun violence on February 29. As the community stood together in mourning, they also issued a call to action to mobilize against gun violence and prioritize the safety and well-being of all young people. “We're in a time where a lot of young people don't feel seen and or loved or heard,” said Anthony Rowe, director of our Neighbors in Action program in Crown Heights. “So our path forward is to invest in the youth.”

Red Hook NYCHA Tenants Waiting Months For Gas Want Answers

Red Hook NYCHA Tenants Waiting Months For Gas Want Answers

City Limits

Residents of New York City’s public housing system are routinely forced to live without kitchen gas, electricity, and heat, sometimes for days or weeks on end. With support from the Red Hook Community Justice Center, some tenants of Brooklyn’s Red Hook Houses are seeking compensation—and a new bill sponsored by Assembly Member Marcela Mitaynes proposes to reduce tenant rent during utility outages.