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El
Barrio/EastHa
rlem
Youth Violence Task Force
Platform:
NOVEMBER 2011
PROMOTING PEACE & EMPOWERMENT
AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE
IN OUR COMMUNITY
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FIRST AND FOREMOST, we thank each and every young person who
attended our community discussions and other meetings. This platform is
a direct result of all of your ideas and suggestions, and would not have
been possible without your participation.
We also want to thank all o the members o the EL BARRIO/EAST HARLEM
YOUTH VIOLENCE TASK FORCE and all others who made our
community discussions possible by oering meeting space, securing ood
or participants, and serving as guest speakers.
FINALLY, we extend our gratitude to all those Task Force members that
provided invaluable input into this platorm to ensure that it most accurately
refected the ideas and contributions o our youth.
REPORT PREPARED BY: Andrew King,
Ofce of Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito
REPORT DESIGNED BY: Antonio Rodriguez
COVER LOGO DESIGNED BY: Omany Luna
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: Elsie Encarnacin, Joe Taranto
and Rakim Brooks, Ofce of Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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ABOUTTHEPLATFORM&MOVINGFORWARDFollowing our series o discussions, the Youth Violence
Task Force set out to create a platorm or our work going
orward that would incorporate the ideas and perspectiveso El Barrio/East Harlem youth, as
well as additional examples o best
practices and eorts by other cities
to prevent violence. In particular,
this platorm draws upon the East
Harlem Juvenile Gang Task Force
Needs Assessment Report, which
was coordinated by one o our
partners in the Task Force, the
Harlem Community Justice Center.
The Centers report consists o a
year-long comprehensive needs
assessment o juvenile gangs and
violence in East Harlem.1
The recommendations revolve
around seven key areas:
1) Outreach to High Risk Youth;
2) Improving Police/Community
Relations; 3) Extracurricular
Youth Programming; 4) Youth
Employment; 5) Investments
in Public Education; 6) Parental
Involvement; and 7) Youth
Empowerment.
In the coming months, we willengage elected ocials, city agen-
cies, non-prots, oundations and
more o the neighborhoods young people as we
seek to implement the recommendations in this
platorm. We can begin to work on some o these
recommendations immediately, while others are
long-term goals
INTRODUCTION:VIOLENCEINOURCOMMUNITYEl Barrio/East Harlem has recently witnessed a rise in
youth-related violence. Last year, there were more
than 70 shootings in East and Central Harlem public
housing and 18 homicides in East Harlem alone.2 This
represents a two-old increase in shootings and tripling
in homicides rom the previous year. According to the
East Harlem Juvenile Gang Task Force Needs Assessment
Report, East Harlem arrests or robbery went up by 20
percent, there was an 85% increase in identied youth
gangs or crews in Upper Manhattan between 2007
and 2009 thirteen are located in East Harlem and gang-
involved youth were responsible or a signicant percentage
o homicides and non-atal shootings in 2009.3
The underlying causes o this increase
in violence are not dicult to locate.
El Barrio/East Harlem is known or its
beauty, cultural richness, and vibrancy,
but it also aces disproportionate poverty,
unemployment, health challenges and
other hardships. East Harlem has a
larger population o youth than most
neighborhoods in New York City. More
than 40% o those children live in poverty
and in some parts o our neighborhood
child poverty tops 50%.4
In this time oeconomic hardshipwhich has hit Latino
and Black communities, especially youth
o color, the hardestthese challenges
have only been magnied.
El Barrio/East Harlem also has the highest
concentration o New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA) developments in
the city. In a recent survey, a majority
o NYCHA resident respondents reported
recent serious crime in their develop-
ments and that they were very or
somewhat earul o crime.5 O the 45
public housing projects in greater Harlem,the top nine or shootings were located
in East and Central Harlem, accounting or 65% o all
shootings on Harlem NYCHA properties.6
THEEFFECTSOFVIOLENCEYouth violence damages the lives o those directly
involved but also has a larger impact on our amilies
and community. In our discussions, some young people
said they elt unsae to leave their homes, while otherselt unsae even at school due to bullying and peer
pressure. Violence in schools has a ripple eect on
other students and witnesses, causing increased
dropouts. Research shows that violence-induced trauma
and stress can aect young peoples brain development,
resulting in diculty concentrating, lower grade point
averages, lower IQ scores, and increased eelings o
isolation. Community health is also negatively impacted;
THE RECOMMENDATIONS
REVOLVE AROUND SEVEN
KEY AREAS:
1) Outreach to High
Risk Youth
2) Improving Police/
Community Relations
3) Extracurricular
Youth Programming
4) Youth Employment
5) Investments in
Public Education
6) Parental Involvement
7) Youth Empowerment
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violence increases the cost o healthcare, reduces
social interactions and decreases property values.7
Research shows that violent behavior is caused by
a number o actors including an individuals prior
history o violence, drug use, association with
delinquent peers, and systemic issues such as poverty,unemployment and racism.8 In addition to general
racial and economic disparities, youth o color in low-
income communities oten ace particular obstacles
including lack o access to quality education and a
high unemployment rate. Young people echoed many
o these concerns at our community discussions,
citing the lack o jobs or both youth and adults in
the community, and a need or more ree or
aordable youth programs, community centers,
and recreational activities.
Violence is increasingly coming to be understood as a
public health issue by experts and practitioners in the eld;
it is complex and has many intersecting causal actors.9
It is important to note that that there are no silver bullet
solutions. However, youth violence can be mitigated.A comprehensive public health approach should be
taken to address all actors that infuence youth violence.
Strategies that support amilies, teach social development,
and oer mentoring are crucial to stopping youth
violence beore it begins.10 There is now public health
unding available at the city, state and ederal level or
violence prevention programs.11 The platorm we have
outlined combines immediate violence intervention and
longer-term strategies o prevention that nurture young
peoples social and emotional development at a personal,
amily, school and community level.
ENSURINGTHATYOUTHAREPARTOFTHESOLUTIONUnortunately, young people are oten treated as the
problem. They are excluded rom discussions and decision-
making processes that prooundly aect them. Although
youth violence is a serious problem, it is not the sum total
experience o the youth living in East Harlem and other
communities o color. The mass medias ocus on negative
images and incidents in East
Harlem might lead the average
person to believe that violence
denes the area. Nothing couldbe urther rom the truth. In light
o this reality, we began to involve
young people rom the very rst
stages o the ormation o our
Task Force. We solicited their per-
spectives, documented the lessons
learned, and have come to champion
their suggested solutions.
This report is just the rst step o
many. An eective strategy will
require cooperation and partner-
ships among many groups:youth, their parents and amilies,
teachers and schools, community
organizations, elected ocials,
aith-based institutions, law
enorcement, and community
leaders. While some o the
recommendations outlined
below are directed at specic
individuals, groups, and initiatives,
many involve steps that we can collectively take as a
community. Each o us in El Barrio/East Harlem has a role
to play in helping to stop youth violence in our neighborhood.
PhotobyJeffMays/DNAInfo.
Each o us in ElBarrio/East Harlemhas a role to play in
helping to stop youth violencein our neighborhood.
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RECOMMENDATIONS&NEXTSTEPS
PROVIDE TARGETED INTERVENTION AND
STREET OUTREACH FOR HIGH-RISK YOUTH
WhatWeHeard:
Most youth expressed that gangs and ear o gang
violence are critical issues in our community.
Gang-aliated youth are hard to reach and need
targeted engagement eorts.
Suggestions rom youth to deal with this problem
included gang-awareness education programs and
targeted outreach to gang-aliated youth including
counseling and youth summits.
TheFacts: There is concentrated gang or crew violence
among the neighborhoods highest-risk youth.
East Harlem arrests or murder increased signicantly
in 2010. There was an 85% increase in identied
youth gangs or crews in Upper Manhattan between
2007 and 2009; thirteen are located in East Harlem.12
Gang-involved youth were responsible or a
signicant percentage o homicides and non-atal
shootings in 2009.13
WhatWeRecommend:
Employ Violence Interrupters Model in Our
Community. Operation SNUG is an eective program
in Central Harlem based on Chicagos Ceasere program
model, where ormer gang members and ex-oenders
with street credibility are trained as outreach workers
who directly interrupt violent situations, preventing
shootings and retaliatory violence among our
communitys high-risk youth.14 Outreach workers each
have caseloads o youth whose lives they are very
involved with, whether through their home, school or
the courts. They connect their kids to local youth
programs, job-training and academic services.15 Theprogram utilizes social media, as well as the slogans
and language that young people use in daily
conversations. The Young Mens Initiative has earmarked
$800,000 or Ceasere programs in the city; a portion
o these unds should be utilized to expand SNUGs
street outreach to East Harlem, or to implement a similar
program o our own.16
Integrate the Violence Interrupters Program
with thePositive Presence for Peace Initiative.
We should support and expand community leaderVernon Williams' initiative by training parents and
community members to create an organized and
consistent Positive Presence or Peace inside their
communities and housing developments.18 This
not only helps to keep people sae; it also
strengthens community relationships which deter
youth rom violence and steer them in more
productive directions, helping to avoid negative
interactions between community members and
the police. Working in collaboration, violence
interrupters and Positive Presence or Peace
members can organize public awareness events
such as marches and youth summits on the issue
o violence.
Promote Conict Mediation. Street workers and
community members should be trained to convene
confict mediation sessions and establish peace
treaties between rival youth gangs rom particular
housing projects, such as Carver and Washington
Houses which have witnessed recent shootings.
THE YOUNG MENS INITIATIVE is a citywide
eort led by the Mayors Ofce to address the
disparities aced by Black and Latino young
men. Through a public-private partnership,
the initiative will invest more than $127
million in educational, mentoring and
employment programs or young Black and
Latino men, utilizing many city agencies.
Considering that East Harlem has a higher
proportion o youth than the rest o the city,
is disproportionately aected by violence,
and has the highest number o juvenile
arrests in Manhattan, we recommend that
a good portion o these unds be allocated
to East Harlem violence prevention
programs that will empower young men
here in our community.17 We will monitor
the implementation and progress o this
initiative careully and hold accountable
those city agencies charged with carrying
it out.
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Gun Buy-Back Programs. The community should
come together to strengthen and increase the
publicity o gun and toy-gun buy-back programs,
such as the recent cash or guns drive, in which
two Harlem churches pulled 140 guns o the streets.
We can partner with groups such as New Yorkers
Against Gun Violence and Downtown Community
Television Center to expand these programs. Onepossibility is to replicate a Los Angeles initiative
where metal rom recovered handguns is melted and
turned into art sculptures.20
Create Community Responses toViolence. To
promote healing and to commemorate victims o
violence, we can plant trees in locations where
young people have recently been killed, accompanied
by plaques, to honor the individuals. The trees could
be planted in conjunction with the New York
Restoration Project and the Parks Departments
MillionTreesNYC initiative.
IMPROVE POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS &END FAILED PUNITIVE POLICIES
WhatWeHeard:
Our youth expressed a lack o trust in the police.
Many said they eel disproportionately targeted by
the stop-and-risk policies; these repeated incidents
are humiliating and traumatizing experiences.
TheFacts:
Our community is disproportionately impacted by
policing and the criminal justice system. East
Harlem is home to one o the highest concentrationso ormerly incarcerated men in New York State.21
More than 600,000 people were stopped and risked
by the NYPD in 2010, the highest number to date;
Black and Latino men accounted or 85% o stops.
Only 14% o people stopped were issued summonses
or arrested, making the reason or many stops unclear.22
WhatWeRecommend:
End the Stop-and-Frisk Policy. While we commend
Police Commissioner Kellys momentous rst step
in ordering an end to the NYPDs small-quantitymarijuana arrest policy, more needs to be done to
stop police harassment and targeting o youth in our
community. The racially-biased stop-and-risk policy
is not consistent with the Mayors recently expressed
commitment to tackle the disparities aced by young
Black and Latino men. The Center or Constitutional
Rights has led a class-action lawsuit against the city
and the Police Department over this practice.23
2:
In Chicagos original Ceasefre program, outreach
workers established a presence on the street in 17
targeted neighborhoods to provide direct intervention
or the communitys highest-risk youth, working
to prevent shootings, stop retaliatory killings andmediate conicts. According to a U.S. Department
o Justice-unded, three-year evaluation, Ceasefre
successully reduced shootings and killings by 41% to
73% across its targeted neighborhoods and showed
a 100% success rate in reducing retaliatory killings
in 5 o the 8 areas examined. Since January 2009,
Ceasefre has worked with 845 high-risk clients in
Chicago. More than 720 got help fnding a job, more
than 300 went back to school or restarted school, and
more than 60 were connected with a substance abuse
program. The model has been replicated in Boston,
Central Harlem and East New York (S.N.U.G.), as well
as Crown Heights, Brooklyn (Save Our Streets).19
Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito was actively involved in the successul eorts to end the NYPDs
enorcement o small-time marijuana possession. This practice was leading to the arrest o over 50,000
New Yorkers each year, many o whom were young men, and was based on a loophole in the existingState law that de-criminalized marijuana when it was not in public view.24 During stop-and-risks,
police would routinely ask that individuals empty their pockets, and upon fnding marijuana, would
arrest them. The Council Member questioned Commissioner Kelly about this practice at two public
hearings and also introduced a City Council resolution in support o a change in the State law that would
clariy that possession o small quantities o marijuana is a violation, not a crime.
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Implement Community Policing Practices. Our
youth should have input in community discussions with
police, and should take part in police monitoring and
evaluation eorts. We must work to strengthen and
expand the involvement o young people in police-
community programs such as the Precinct CommunityCouncils and police-youth engagement programs such
as the Police Athletic League (PAL). We also must
ensure that all ocers are properly trained in respectul
youth engagement and human rights, and are amiliar
with and available to young peoples amilies, teachers,
churches and communities.25
Fund Rehabilitation and Alternatives to Incarceration
Programs. Studies show that alternatives to
incarceration, such as rehabilitation, job-training and
community service programs, have lower recidivism
rates and are proven to work.26 Drug treatment,
community service, and probation are more appropriate
or those convicted o low-level drug oenses, ingeneral, but especially in the case o youthul
oenders.27 Job programs such as the NYC Justice
Corps and Harlem HARD Hats Program provide
employment opportunities, including green jobs, or
court-involved youth as an alternative to incarceration.
Support and Expand Harlem Community Justice
Centers Youth Court as an Alternative to
Incarceration Program. Council Member
Mark-Viverito has allocated unds to the Justice
Center which works to intervene in young peoples
lives at the rst signs o delinquent behavior, giving
them the help they need to prevent urther oending.Their courtroom, where cases are presided over by
other young people rom the community trained to
serve as lawyers, judges and jurors, connects
oenders to services like counseling, drug treatment,
and education while continually monitoring their
progress. The youth court also hears cases like
truancy and schoolyard ghts reerred directly
by police. Sanctions
include community service,
anger-management classes
and apology letters, which
encourage young people
to take responsibility or
their actions. The JusticeCenter also oers amily
mediation and counseling,
mentoring, leadership
development and job training.
Each year, more than 300
youth participate in programs
at the Justice Center.28
EXPAND YOUTH PROGRAMS, RECREATION AND
EXTRA-CURRICULAR SERVICES FOR YOUTH
WhatWeHeard:
Youth expressed a need or increased advertising andoutreach or existing programs.
There are not enough activities or youth, including
quality ater-school, athletic and recreational programs.
There is a need or more ree or aordable youth
programs, community centers, sports and arts programs,
particularly during ater-school and late-night hours,
which are vital to preventing violence beore it starts;
Youth need more positive role models or guidance and
mentorship in the community.
WhatWeRecommend: Provide Safe Recreational Spaces & Programs.
Community centers and athletic programs provide
needed exercise and structured activities or
youth, improving physical and mental health, as
well as academic perormance.29 We must work to
increase awareness and utilization o existing youth
centers and implement extended late night hours
which give youth a sae place to play and learn ater
school and during peak crime hours. Nighttime
team sports leagues and tournaments will increase
the presence o community members during
hours when there is greater risk o violence.Programs such as Harlem RBI increase physical
activity among youth, thereby combating
obesity, which is rampant in East Harlem and is
correlated with violence and ear o violence.30
Reinstate the New York Midnight Basketball Program
by replicating the current renowned Summer Night
Lights program in Los Angeles. Extend
hours and keep lights on in selected
parks and recreation centers until 1:00
am, our days a week. The program will
provide jobs or high-risk youth and adults
to sta and supervise activities such as
organized sports games, skateboarding,educational and artistic activities, and will
include mandatory job training and skills
workshops. There should be a special
ocus on developing a collaborative e-
ort between groups such as the Taino
Towers Basketball League, Hoops by the
River, and NYCHA.31
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Ensure the successful opening and programming of
the renovated James Weldon Johnson Center. This
brand new center, located at Lexington Avenue and
115th Street, has been in the works or over a decade,
but still has not opened. The center will provide
21,500 square eet o community and recreational
space or NYCHA residents, particularly youth. It will
include a childrens center, classrooms, art space, a
gym, kitchen and oces, which neighborhood youthare eagerly waiting to utilize.33 In December 2010, the
Council Member and the Task Force brought NYCHA
representatives to Johnson Houses to meet with
youth and hear rsthand rom them how important
it was to nally get the center opened.
Utilize Martial Arts Programs to Stem Violence.
East Harlem-based Peace on the Street teaches
martial arts and meditation skills to help youth with
anger management and channeling their negative
energy. Workshops in meditation and psychic
sel-deense are given. Concentration techniques andmartial arts practice are incorporated into unique
GED classes, which have been successul in helping
students pass the exam. The Council Member has
consistently allocated unding to this program.
Increase Physical
Education for Students.
The Department o
Education should ensure
that students get at least
120 minutes o physical
education per week, as
mandated by the State.
Teens in East and CentralHarlem are three times less
likely to attend a daily gym
class as youth in other
parts o the city, despite high rates o health problems
related to lack o physical activity in our community.34
The DOE should also restore unding cuts to sports
programs in middle schools to provide coaches,
reerees, and other paid sta.
Expand Art Programs, which provide a positive
and creative alternative to violence. For example,
Art or Change oers ree community art
workshops or youth and amilies to engagein East Harlem's rich cultural traditions. Themes
include social change, diversity, cultural heritage
and empowerment. The Groundswell Community
Mural Project mentors kids and helps them work in
teams to paint anti-gun violence murals.35 Holding
Open Mic events is another popular way to show-
case positive artistic expression by our young poets,
singers and hip-hop artists.
Support Media Literacy Programs. Train youth to use
social media to promote peace and confict resolution
and to intervene i their peers are using Facebook or
Twitter to plan acts o violence. We will continue support
or media literacy programs that challenge violence in themass media, promote critical thinking, and empower
youth with skills to make change in their community
through television, lm and radio.
Support the Creation of a Comprehensive Guide of
Existing Services and Programs for Youth. The
Guide would serve as a tool to connect young people,
In Los Angeles, the Summer Night Lights program
has expanded rom 8 to 32 parks since 2008,
providing 1,000 jobs or at-risk youth, serving
thousands o ree meals, and engaging hundreds
o thousands o participants. In 2008, the
surrounding areas involved saw 86% ewer
murders and a 17% drop in gang violence.32
The Task Force supports plans by The New YorkAcademy o Medicine to convene a conerence
next year or unders o violence prevention
programs, along with those working on violence
prevention in East Harlem and throughout New
York City to increase unding supports.
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parents and practitioners to our network o
community-based organizations providing services
or young people.
Develop and Encourage Mentorship Programs.
Work with the Administration to leverage unds rom
the Young Mens Initiative, which has allocated
millions o dollars or intensive mentoring or the
citys highest-risk youth and is sponsoring a citywide
mentoring summit and strategy that would pair
mentoring organizations with schools and ater-school
programs. Also, recruit more young men o color to
be mentors, who are underrepresented in this eld.
OFFER JOB-TRAINING AND YOUTH
EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS
WhatWeHeard:
Community members consistently identied
unemployment among teens and adults as one o
the root causes o violence.
TheFacts:
New York City has the lowest youth employment
rate in the nation. Among males 16-24 years old, 37%
o Blacks and 20% o Latinos lack jobs.36 Jobless teens
are more likely to drop out o school, and more likely
to commit crimes.37
The citys Summer Youth Employment Program is
employing more than 40% ewer teens than it did
two years ago (30,000 vs. 52,000 jobs) due to
millions o dollars in budget cuts.38
East Harlems overall unemployment rate is about 19%,
more than double that o the citywide rate o 8.6%.39
WhatWeRecommend:
Restore funding to and expand the Summer Youth
Employment Program. In the ace o budget cuts and
an alarming youth unemployment rate, we support
the mayors proposal to develop a strategy or thelong-term sustainability o the citys Summer Youth
Employment Program, which may include engaging
the private sector or unding. A similar strategy
allowed Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to nance
a $10 million youth job-training program in Boston.40
Leverage YMI Funds for Workforce Development.
Workorce centers provide job/lie skills workshops
that will teach nancial literacy, resume building,
career skills, college exploration and health education.
They also serve as connectors to employment
opportunities. YMI plans to invest in programs that
reconnect marginalized youth with education and
employment such as Jobs Plus, Justice Corps andJustice Scholars. East Harlem would benet
signicantly rom those investments.
Support Passage of the Emergency Jobs to Restore
the American Dream Act. The bill will provide
Americans with more than 2 million jobs in two years,
including 100,000 jobs or youth between the ages
o 16 and 25, to improve our nation's parks; 250,000
part-time, work study jobs or eligible college students;
400,000 construction and 250,000 maintenance
jobs to x American schools; and 750,000 jobs to do
work in distressed communities.41 This would create
hundreds o jobs in East Harlem, so we arerecommending that community members write their
representatives and tell them to support this bill.
Councilwoman Mark-Viverito allocated unds
to the Downtown Community Television Center
(DCTV) to support the award-winning, youth-
produced flm Bullets in the Hood, which
promotes awareness o gun violence and highlight
the solutions that young people are creating
themselves. The Councilwoman also took part in
the Peoples Production Houses Super Heroes
o East Harlem media project documenting the
stories o our community leaders.
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PARENT AND FAMILY
INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMS
WhatWeHeard:
Youth expressed a need or parent and amily
services, to encourage more positive parent
involvement in their lives. They also want adultsto be more respectul and understanding o them.
Proposed community solutions include more parent
and amily-based programs to improve amily
relationships and teach confict-resolution skills.
WhatWeRecommend:
Offer Services that Help Enhance Parenting Skills.
The DOE and local organizations should oer
support services to parents to better enable them
to support their childrens academic and social
development at home. Greater investments shouldbe made in amily counseling, mediation and confict
resolution services, such as those provided by the
Harlem Community Justice Center. These programs
can help mediate amily conficts beore they escalate,
avoiding more serious complications and even court-
interventions. The Childrens Aid Societys Family
Wellness Program and the Family Center o Somer-
villes Parenting Journey program could serve as
models or additional programs.
Expand Efforts to Engage Parents in Schools. The DOE
should provide additional support to Parent Coordina-
tors, teachers and other school sta or the expansion o
parent engagement eorts. Beyond parent-teacherconerences, parents should be encouraged to become
involved in all aspects o the school community. Schools
should oer college workshops and tours to amiliarize
parents with the college process and encourage amily
participation in schools and youth programs through
events such as potlucks and community discussions.
Strengthen Coordination Between Schools, Parents
andCommunity Groups that provide recreation,
healthcare, or youth development services. This helps to
prevent truancy, poor academic perormance, and violent
behavior, while strengthening amily and community ties.
Invest in Adult Education Programs. Schools should
oer adult literacy, GED, and ESL courses to help parents
advance their own educational goals; doing so enables
these parents to help their children succeed.
PROMOTE YOUTH LEADERSHIP
AND EMPOWERMENT
WhatWeHeard:
Youth want to take ownership o, and participate in,
the decisions and policies aecting their lives. They
want to identiy their own needs and the solutions
that could help address violence.
WhatWeRecommend:
Use Our Districts Ground-Breaking Participatory
Budgeting Project to Engage Youth. The new
Participatory Budgeting Project, sponsored by
Council Member Mark-Viverito, presents a great
opportunity to engage with youth on local issues.
Councilwoman Mark-Viverito allocated $25,000
to Council For Unity to provide school-based
anti-violence and gang awareness programs,
conict-resolution skills, and mediations to
intervene in the lives o high-risk youths who
may be gang-afliated. Programs like these are
critical and should be expanded.
6: 7:
EACH YEAR, COUNCIL MEMBER MARK-VIVERITO
ALLOCATES FUNDING FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS THAT PROVIDE POSITIVE ALTERNATIVESTO VIOLENCE. THESE ARE SOME OF THE ORGANIZA-
TIONS THAT HAVE RECEIVED COUNCIL FUNDING IN
THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR:
Childrens Aid Society
City Year
Council or Unity
Creative Arts Workshops or Kids
Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV)
East Harlem Tutorial Program
Hoops by the River
New Yorkers Against Gun Violence
Peace on the Street
The Peoples Production House/Radio Rootz
Urban Dove
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Over 160 young people recently participated in a
special Youth Assembly at the Childrens Aid
Societys East Harlem community center. At this
assembly, youth engaged in brainstorming
exercises on ideas or capital projects that they
wanted to see in the community. Many o these
young people have signed up to be Budget
Delegates, who will help ormulate these ideas
into concrete projects that will appear on a ballot ina community vote. This process is helping to
increase their understanding o their community
and their condence in their ability to create
positive change at a local level.
Continue youth discussions, summits and forums
to oster youth participation in violence prevention
eorts. By hearing directly rom young people, the
City, schools, community organizations, and other
providers we will be able to urther understand which
programs appeal to youth and which approaches are
most eective.
Expand the District 8 Youth Council, hosted byCouncilwoman Mark-Viverito. Youth councils
prepare young people to be proactive citizens and
tackle the most critical issues acing them. Their
eorts should be supported and unded.
CONCLUSIONThe intent of this platform was to lay out a
basic set of goals and objectives for our com-
munity to organize around. Our engagement
with young people doesn't stop with this
platform; in fact, it is just beginning. In the
coming months we will continue to support
young people themselves to take the lead in
implementing these recommendations, using
the platform as a guide for action. Please
stay tuned and join us in these efforts.
CONTACTANDJOINTHEYOUTHVIOLENCE
TASKFORCEFor more information on the El Barrio/East
Harlem Youth Violence Task Force,please
contact:Elsie Encarnacin at (212) 828-9800 or
[email protected]. You can also keep
up with the work of the Task Force by visiting
www.stopyouthviolence.wordpress.com.
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Community Justice Center.
2 www.dnaino.com, Crime and Saety Report, retrieved September, 2011, rom http://www.dnaino.com/crime-saety-report/.3 East Harlem Juvenile Gang Task Force. East Harlem Juvenile Gang Task Force Needs Assessment Report 2011. Harlem
Community Justice Center.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Understanding Youth Violence Fact Sheet 2010, Centers or Disease Control and Prevention, accessed August, 2010, www.
cdc.gov/violenceprevention.
8 Ibid.
9 Fact Sheet: Public Health Funding or Youth Violence Prevention, Prevention Institute, accessed September, 2011, http://
www.preventioninstitute.org/images/stories/Documents/Fact_Sheet_on_CDC-public_health_youth_violence_prevention_activities_-updated.pd
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37 Ibid.
38 Clock Ticks as SYEP Providers Wait or Federal Funding, NYC Workorce Weekly, Vol.4, Issue 18. June 4th, 2010.
39 East Harlem Juvenile Gang Task Force. Strategic Plan 2011. Harlem Community Justice Center.
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43 NYC Graduation Rates Class o 2010 (2006 Cohort), NYC Department o Education, June 14th, 2011. http://schools.nyc.
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46
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