Photo of the Week

To commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Red Hook Community Justice Center holds a day of service, giving out over 150 winter coats to those in need. The Justice Center’s AmeriCorps members, community service participants, and staff served cookies and hot cocoa while helping neighbors try on and select their coats.

 Our Harlem Justice Community Center hosts local service providers to discuss housing needs for people returning from incarceration. Jennie Kim of Legal Hand says the need for housing is urgent: “Formerly incarcerated people are almost 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public.” Photo credit: Samiha A. Meah

At a celebration of the Midtown Community Court’s 25^th anniversary, Court Director Sherene Crawford, right, moderates a discussion among John Feinblatt, Karol Mason, Calder Zwicky, and Rachael Barnard about the court’s history and impact, as well as the intersection of criminal justice and art. The discussion was held at the Museum of Modern Art. Photo credit: Michael Falco

Members of our Sixth Amendment team working with justice-system stakeholders in Guam in 2018

Midtown Community Court is celebrating its 25th anniversary this fall. As highlighted in U.S. News & World Report, the court’s problem-solving model of responding to low-level crime with social services and community restitution projects has inspired more than 70 similar initiatives across the U.S. Photo credit: Samiha A. Meah

After 20 years serving residents of Brooklyn, N.Y., our Crown Heights Community Mediation Center is getting a new name: Neighbors in Action. The new name reflects the change in the program’s focus—from its original emphasis on mediating conflict to its current work preventing gun violence, providing trauma support services, running youth leadership development programs, and offering free legal information. Lavon Walker Jr., whose father worked for the program as an anti-violence advocate and was killed last year while vacationing in Miami, cut the ribbon at a ceremony outside the program’s Crown Heights storefront.

A group of Brownsville, Brooklyn, residents of all ages launched a “pop-up” fitness program called B-FIT to promote health and wellness. Developed in collaboration with our Brownsville Community Justice Center, the program includes healthful food and fitness equipment that can be brought to neighborhood events. Organizers were inspired by the neighborhood’s alarming health indicators, including high rates of infant mortality, pre-term births, psychiatric hospitalizations, and avoidable diabetes hospitalizations.

The Red Hook Community Justice Center hosted Emmy-nominated actor and Brooklyn-native Michael K. Williams ('The Wire,' 'The Night Of,' and many more) for a screening of his documentary 'Raised in the System' at the Red Hook Labs. The film explores the roots of mass incarceration through the lens of the juvenile justice system. The audience of more than 100 people included 25 youth currently serving sentences in non-secure detention facilities. Williams (far left) was joined by Dominic Dupont, who was granted clemency by Governor Cuomo after serving 20 years in prison, and Derrick Hamilton, who was exonerated for murder after serving 21 years.

With the opening of the Bronx Youth Court, we now run youth courts in all five boroughs of New York City and in Newark, New Jersey. Youth courts train teens to handle real-life cases involving their peers, taking a restorative approach to misbehavior. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and Supervising Bronx County Judge George Grasso congratulate youth court members at their induction ceremony.

Survivors of February's fatal school shooting in Parkland, Fla., including David Hogg (foreground in backwards cap), join members of our Save Our Streets gun violence-prevention program for an outreach walk through the South Bronx. Hogg is a leading voice of 'March For Our Lives,' currently on a national tour to rally support for gun control and encourage more young people to vote. (Photo: Joe Martin/Keyz 2 Life Media)

New York State Chief Judge Janet DiFiore (with scissors) helps celebrate the launch of Legal Hand in the Bronx. After extensive training, community volunteers at Legal Hand’s storefront offices in the neighborhoods of Highbridge and Tremont provide free legal information and referrals to their neighbors. With DiFiore, from left, are Bronx Deputy Borough President Marricka Scott-McFadden, Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner, and Volunteer Coordinator Erica Maldonado.

The Red Hook Community Justice Center teamed up with Groundswell to create a mural to welcome people to the Red Hook community. It was designed and painted by youth with input and assistance from Justice Center staff, community partners and residents. Neighborhood police officers also helped with the painting. Located at the corner of Hamilton and West 9^th Street and completed in June, the mural draws on themes of unity, diversity, and intergenerational bonds that tie the neighborhood together.