First Community Advisory Board Meeting of the Year

From TK Singleton, Community Initiatives Coordinator

On Wednesday evening, January 20th, Bronx Community Solutions held its first quarterly Community Advisory meeting of the year. There were quite a few members in attendance. Our municipal community partners were on hand (Bronx District Attorney's office, Bronx Borough Presidents office, 161st street Business Improvement District, Parks Department and FDNY), along with our community partners Promesa and Cornerstone Continuous Care. A number of community members were also at the meeting, including Loretta Masterson, Sidney Flores, and SEBNC (SouthEast Bronx Economic Centers).

We started off the meeting by asking if there were any programs/projects that members would like Bronx Community Solutions to become partners with, and several responded. SEBNC would like us to assist with their in-house services for youth. FEGS would like us to provide support for a new RFP Program (out-of-school youth services for ages 16-21) and community patrol officer Sydney Flores would like us to continue assisting with community service projects.

Many of the partners were excited to see the pictures from our Community Impact Step Street Initiative project. Cary Goodman, the executive director of the 161st Street BID was so impressed, that he offered to use some of his empty store fronts on the corner of the Grand Concourse to showcase our pictures as exhibits.

CAB members agreed this would be a good way to show the community all the good work the courts are doing.

Lastly, Michael Patterson, one of our Americorps interns, spoke about the Bronx Community Solutions Basketball league and the experiences of the league members. He went into detail about the impact community service has had on himself and the team members. He also commented on the change of perception of the participants towards law enforcement, noting that "seeing officers in another light" was what he heard from other peers in the league.

Our next CAB meeting will be on April 21st, at the School of Law, Government and Justice.