The New Rochelle Community Justice Center is taking a new approach to building safety across the city by investing in young people's futures.
HEADER PHOTO: Judge Jared R. Rice
What started as a small court program that put young people on a path to better futures has grown into a full-fledged Community Justice Center team serving the city of New Rochelle.
Our New Rochelle Community Justice Center team is taking a new approach to building safety and reducing crime—including gun violence—throughout the city. It grew out of the Opportunity Youth Part, a special courtroom that connects young adults with criminal charges to supportive services for education, employment, and life guidance.
Nearly 100 young people have completed the program so far, the vast majority of them graduating without a criminal record.
Judge Jared R. Rice, who oversees the New Rochelle Community Justice Center, began his work with youth as a public defender in Mount Vernon at a time when 16- and 17-year-olds were still prosecuted as adults. He led a diversion program that offered teenagers who had been arrested a pathway out of the criminal justice system and into community-based care.
That experience, Judge Rice says, changed the way he thought about what courts could be. “I said to myself, ‘If I ever have an opportunity, I would love to do something like this in my hometown.’”
That idea came to fruition in 2020, when he began his work as a judge in New Rochelle. What he saw in court there echoed his experience as a public defender in Mount Vernon—young people who were full of promise, but who were disconnected from services, education, and even from their own communities. With the support of a resource coordinator from the Center, he helped launch the Opportunity Youth Part to offer those young people an alternative pathway that could put them in touch with the resources they struggled to access.
Our New Rochelle Community Justice Center team expands on that vital work, connecting young people to mentors to support their growth, hosting workshops on the harms of gun violence, and empowering youth to become community leaders and changemakers. More recently, they have also partnered with local businesses to set participants up with internships that help them build their job skills while contributing to the economic health of their neighborhoods.
This week, Judge Rice and Judge John Zhuo Wang, who presides over our Midtown Community Justice Center, brought their teams together in New Rochelle to learn from each other’s efforts to build Community Justice in the neighborhoods they serve.
“I was absolutely blown away by the dedication and care the staff has here,” says Judge Wang. “What I saw in New Rochelle City Court is just an incredible example of collaboration—everyone in the courtroom coming together to work towards the best outcome for each individual in the court.”
As Project Director Amanda Nathan points out, that work takes buy-in from everyone—from public defenders and prosecutors to community members and business owners. “You really need to have both—courts and communities—to have Community Justice,” Nathan says. “No one group has all the answers, so working in tandem and having all voices heard is so vital in this process.”
Building trusting relationships with the community is key to making that collaboration work. As they continue to work in court to set young people up for stronger futures, our New Rochelle team is also out and about, hosting events and discussions to hear directly from residents what their needs are and what kinds of investments they’d like to see in their community. Their ultimate goal is to provide a safe haven that community members can rely on for support, whether they have a criminal case or not.
“As a judge, I wanted to be able to have a hands-on effect with my community,” says Judge Rice. “To see these young people accomplish one thing after another and to hear how that experience has really shaped their lives—that means the world to me.”