BCS Hosts Community Advisory Board Meeting

Yesterday evening, Bronx Community Solutions hosted our first Community Advisory Board meeting of the year. We had about ten participants representing the Bronx Borough President's office, NYPD Community Affairs Unit, as well as community organizations and local service providers. T.K. Singleton, Coordinator of Community Operations, and I spoke to the group to provide them with updates about Bronx Community Solutions and to elicit their feedback.

We talked about the recent changes with our Adolescent Diversion Program, including the recent addition of a dedicated court part in the Bronx that will allow the 16-17-year-old population to be seen by one judge, in one part. We hope this will help to streamline the process of handling these cases and identifying them to BCS in time to conduct assessments and formulate treatment recommendations.

T.K. introduced the group to the idea of place-based community service. Bronx Community Solutions is embarking on a project to conduct targeted community events and clean-up projects in areas of the Bronx that have been identified as hotspots of crime and quality-of-life offenses. To identify these areas, we will need the help of both the police precincts, to collect crime data based on neighborhood, and local community groups and agencies. T.K. has been working with the NYPD to collect the data, and the group was asked to participate by providing us with ideas and suggestions for areas that may be in need of attention. We look forward to examining their responses and beginning the planning process!

Our next Community Advisory Board meeting is scheduled for early April, the date will be set soon. We hope to see you there.