Young New Yorkers not only changes the lives of the young people who get involved in the criminal justice by offering them a second chance, but they also give a fresh perspective to those prosecuting cases involving these young people.
Young New Yorkers provides court-mandated arts-based transformative justice programs of up to 8 weeks, to court-involved 16 and 17 year olds who would otherwise be sentenced as adults. In most instances, their cases are sealed, allowing them to avoid a criminal record. Participants are selected from the DA’s office to learn in a supervised arts and crafts program, culminating in a gallery-like show to which their families and law enforcement officials come. Our $20,000 grant will be used to hire a part-time Program Manager to enable YNY to run a more regular series of programs (which was requested by several of the Kings County Court judges).