The 7th Cohort of the Justice Ambassadors Youth Council took the stage on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at the Forum at Columbia University, to present and advocate for the policy proposals they developed over the 12-week educational seminar.
The 7th Cohort of the Justice Ambassador took the stage on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at the Forum at Columbia University, to present and advocate for the policy proposals they developed over the 12-week educational seminar. The event was hosted by Jason Bostic, Program Coordinator at Justice Ambassadors, and Pauline Ross, Special Deputy Inspector General for Operations — who also co-facilitated this year's cohort.
The event began with remarks from Jason and Pauline outlining the Justice Ambassadors program and highlighting the collaborative effort’s engagement of both local youth and prevalent city leaders. Find more about the programming on the Justice Ambassador website here. They then handed the stage over to the featured guest speaker Bill Haney. Mr. Haney, father, and trainer of multiple division World Champion boxer Devin Haney, spoke about his upbringing growing up on “the block” – a systematically deprived community similar to that of many of the youth engaging the Center for Justice. Haney illuminated the importance of providing a space for youth from these marginalized communities in institutions like Columbia and ensuring they have opportunities for civic engagement to redefine the boundaries of “the block” from a space of limitation and systemic oppression to that of empowerment, opportunity, and community transformation – much like the guiding principles and design of Justice Ambassadors.
After Bill Haney’s remarks, Jason Bostic and Gabriel Feldman—who in addition to their roles with Justice Ambassadors hold the respective titles of Project Restore Bed-Stuy (PRB) graduate and PRB program manager—gave a summative presentation of PRB’s evaluative report. PRB was a community-university-government collaborative endeavor that sought to mitigate a more than decade-long rivalry between two Bed-Stuy street crews. Some of the highlights of the report illuminate PRB’s success in achieving a 28.4% decrease in shooting incidents and a 22.3% reduction in felony assaults within the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, alongside achieving a strong Benefit-Cost Ratio of 6.7 to 1. This ratio was drawn from PRB’s program cost of $2.4 million leading to an estimated savings of $15.6 million in government funds as a consequence of the prevention of 12 years of incarceration, the avoidance of costs associated with five retaliatory shootings (including medical care and legal proceedings), and increased participant earnings post-program. In addition, 10 of the 30 participants are now enrolled in college. Given PRB's original inception in an earlier cohort, the presentation was of great significance as it is not only evidence of the potential for Justice Ambassador policy proposals to be actualized but also testimony to the positive change proposals they might catalyze.
After the discussion of PRB, the 7th cohort members took the stage to share their proposals. The presentations advocated for the following policy proposals briefly described below (you can watch the event in full here and see the proposals explained by their respective creators in much greater detail):
- Community Flowers proposes a gender-inclusive mentorship program catering to 12-18 year olds creating personal growth and community connection. Through a vibrant community garden, they would pair with young adult mentors to gain valuable life skills while providing fresh, healthy food to their neighbors.
- The Center proposes repurposing a vacant community center in Bed-Stuy as a community-based mental health and resource hub addressing mental health access, housing instability, and economic hardship. Prospective services would include culturally competent mental health support, job placement, housing assistance, crisis intervention, and financial literacy.
- Project Beloved proposes a transformative justice program linking BIPOC youth aged 16 and 17 with mentors and holistic services as an alternative to detention and incarceration. The four-phase program includes pre-release engagement, re-entry planning, mentorship, arts-based interventions, and restorative practices in an effort to reduce recidivism through stabilized supports that promote community healing.
- Rise and Thrive proposes a 90-day youth empowerment program targeting street-affiliated youth and young adults. It would provide life skills training, job readiness workshops, mentorship, educational support, and community engagement opportunities to address systemic issues often pushing individuals towards street affiliation. The proposed program's mission is to reduce youth involvement in street crime through an approach fostering personal growth to elicit long-term success.
Over 200 attendees gathered for this year’s summit, making it the most attended graduation, as the Justice Ambassadors program continued demonstrating its viability as a catalyst for advancing social justice. While this marks the end of the educational seminar for the current cohort, we are excited to continue supporting the Ambassadors pursuing their paid internship with Columbia’s School of Professional Studies. We look forward to sharing further updates as we continue supporting the Ambassadors in their developmental journeys.
