Another Successful Year for the Brownville Justice Community Program

On Monday, December 16, 2013, the Brownsville Justice Community Program celebrated the culmination of another successful year. Participants, staff, and local community supporters came to congratulate the participants who successfully completed all of their milestones and internships and thank those participants who may not have completed but put in equal effort into the milestones they were able to accomplish.  Throughout the year, our participants took part in various activities from a plethora of community benefit projects and educational activities, to internships, and for completing each of these milestones they received stipends payments for various amount.

Benjamin Smith, Program Coordinator, offering words of
encouragement.

Abdul Nixon receiving his certificate of completion.

During the events, participants were asked to speak about what the Justice Community Project meant to them. Many stated that the project provided them with a positive outlet from the everyday life they were used to. They spoke about acquiring skills that they could use to obtain employment or successfully graduate from school. The Justice Community Project became their home away from home.

Staff from all departments from the Brownsville Community Justice Center gave the participants words of encouragement as they all played a role in the success of the program this year. Many of our participants volunteered with many activities ran by the Brownsville Anti-Violence Project from Call-Ins to the Changing the Narrative Art Gallery. They also were a part of the first pilot group for the new Learning Lab.

Dashawn Hayes(left) and his daughter receiving his certificate
 of completion from program coordinator Benjamin Smith (right).

This year we had a total of 16 participants who successfully completed the project. Full completion includes completing 12 community benefit projects, 12 community planning sessions, 12 educational activities, and 8 weeks of an internship. We also had several participants who completed at least 80% of the program.  We are very proud of all the work they accomplished and know that each one will use the skills they acquired during their time in the project to become successful men and women. We would like to thank each one for the contributions they made not only to this program, but to the Brownsville community.

We would like to also thank all of our partners including New York City Department of Probation, Mayor’s Young Men’s Initiative, The Center for Economic Opportunity, Pitkin AveBID, Brownsville Partnership, Groundswell, resident.connect.care, Opportunities for Better Tomorrow, Brooklyn BEOC, Career Gear, Hoods to Woods, Children ofPromise, Project Rhythm, Youth Represent, and Project East New York who all helped to make this year a great success. We look forward to the work we will accomplish together in the coming year!

We are now accepting applications for our 2014 enrollment year expected to being in February 2014. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in joining the Justice Community Program, contact our Program Coordinator, Benjamin Smith at (347)404-9585 or email at bsmith@courts.state.ny.us for more information.