BCS Staff Conduct Presentation at Council Roundtable

Yesterday evening, Coordinator of Community Operations T.K. Singleton and I conducted a presentation about Bronx Community Solutions at a community leader roundtable hosted by Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo of the 17th Judicial District. Long standing CCI staffer Ife Charles also presented on an emerging CCI project called Save Our Streets South Bronx, aimed at reducing the rates of shootings in Mott Haven using a public health model as a method of preventing gun violence, as the Crown Heights Mediation Center has been doing in Brooklyn for three years now. There were over 30 community leaders present from Community Boards 1, 2 and 3. Many of them have been a part of this roundtable group since its creation in 2005.

The community leaders expressed a good deal of interested in our programs. Questions were raised about what could be done to help young people involved in the criminal justice system, and we were pleased to be able to tell them about our Adolescent Diversion Project initiative, which targets 16- and 17-year-olds arrested for misdemeanor offenses and provides them with services and interventions. Council Member Arroyo spoke about the importance of community leaders and how individuals can enact change by providing the passion necessary to drive new ideas. It was an interesting event and we are grateful to have been invited to present!

You can read more about the Save Our Streets project in Crown Heights here: SOS Crown Heights