Youth Initiatives

youth initiatives
We invest in young people as leaders within their communities and beyond and support them to reach their self-defined goals.

The Center for Court Innovation works with youth to create paths to economic mobility, build community safety, and address the inequities and racist policies in the criminal legal system that have disproportionately harmed and criminalized BIPOC youth.  

Transformative relationships among staff, young people, and the community are the foundation of the Center’s model. We invest in young people as leaders within their communities and beyond and support them to reach their self-defined goals.

Initiatives

  • Youth Impact

    Youth can be transformative leaders, addressing inequity in their communities and the factors that lead to youth involvement in the criminal legal system.  

  • Identity-Based Initiatives

    We provide affirming space for young people to explore their identities, build community, pursue self-care, and access healing spaces with an intersectional lens. 

  • Youth Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise

    Social enterprise and entrepreneurship programs nurture young people’s skills to develop career pipelines and start businesses, solve local problems, and support economic development. 

  • Youth-led Placemaking

    Youth-led placemaking forges strong connections between individuals and their environments to create public spaces that foster community well-being. 

  • Youth Arts

    Art engages young people to build creativity, skills, and create networking opportunities to support educational and career trajectories. 

  • Youth Justice Board

    The Youth Justice Board is an after-school leadership development program that helps New York City teenagers study a public policy issue affecting young people.

Publications & Digital Media

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News

  • Changemakers in Action: Saadiq Newton-Boyd

    Saadiq Newton-Boyd knows from his experience with Brooklyn Justice Initiatives that you have to genuinely see potential in the community and let its members lead the way on the solutions to enact positive change. 

  • The NYPD has Recovered More “Ghost Guns” in 2021 than Any Previous Year

    November 17, 2021
    Gothamist

    Ghost guns have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially in jurisdictions where gun control regulations make it difficult for ordinary residents to obtain guns legally. Giving insight into why some New Yorkers feel the need to own a gun, the article links to and summarizes our report 'Gotta Make Your Own Heaven': Guns, Safety, and the Edge of Adulthood in New York City, where more than 300 young people from New York City neighborhoods suffering from high gun violence were surveyed. The result? More than 80% said that they’d personally been shot at and reported having carried a gun at some point in time, and many felt they lacked any other protection.

  • Changemakers in Action: Jennelle Ramdeen

    As program associate of the Youth Justice Board, Jennelle Ramdeen helps young people acquire skills to research and make recommendations about public policy issues that affect their lives. She teaches participants “how to think critically, make connections, [and] have the tools to analyze and be responsible researchers." 

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We work with reformers around the world.

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