Since the Spring of 2019, over a hundred young New Yorkers and executives from New York City and State government, have joined various twelve-week cohorts of the Justice Ambassadors Youth Council (JAYC) to co-create policy proposals in a weekly educational seminar.
On July 13 at the Forum at Columbia, members of the Justice Ambassadors Youth Council (JAYC) across different cohorts reconnected, shared their policy proposals, and contributed to ongoing conversations about public challenges.
The Justice Ambassadors Youth Council (JAYC) is a 12-week civic education seminar that brings together government officials, youth from New York City’s most under-served neighborhoods, formerly incarcerated credible messengers and Columbia University students, to spend a semester studying social justice issues and working to co-develop policy solutions and community based interventions. The JAYC approach is rooted in policy-by-proximity – a model of incorporating the voices and lived experiences of people, especially those who are living through public crises, into policy development conversations with government officials centered around system reform and community change.
Participants past and present shared their policy proposals and how the program impacted their lives. One former participant now JAYC staff member Tyler Campbell shared how JAYC led him on the path to starting his PhD at Yale University this fall.
The keynote address was given by Inspector General Lucy Lang, a long-time partner and participant in JAYC.
Thank you to all who joined us and all of our partners who have made JAYC possible over the years!