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 Action Institute

The Youth Action Institute is a public policy research fellowship that supports young New Yorkers in investigating and testing solutions to the issues and policies that affect their lives

Publications & Digital Media

Audio
Restorative Justice is Racial Justice

by Matt Watkins

Restorative justice is about repairing harm. But for Black Americans, what is there to be restored to? This special episode of New Thinking features a roundtable with eight members of our Restorative Justice in Schools team. They spent three years embedded in five Brooklyn high schools—all five schools are overwhelmingly Black, and all five had some of the highest suspension rates in New York City.

Addressing Racial Disparities, Restorative Justice, Youth Initiatives
Publication
All Eyes on Us: Youth Surveillance and Social Media

by Kianna Ortiz, Ananya Roy, Nia Cabassa, Aaliyah Daniels, Ella Dassin, Osvaldo Garcia, Evelyn Javier, Alexis Lanysse, Clyde Morgan, Melisa Ruiz, and Nicole Smith

The Youth Justice Board, teenagers from across New York City who investigate a current justice system or public safety issue, looked into social media and how police and schools use it for surveillance. Researching the actions and policies of the justice and school systems in New York City, the Board outline the serious consequences surveillance has on young people, identify opportunities to protect, educate, and support youth, and provide specific policy recommendations to address these concerns.

Youth Initiatives
Publication
Youth Involvement in the Sex Trade

With funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Center for Court Innovation conducted a multi-site study designed to increase scientific knowledge concerning youth involvement in the sex trade. Nearly 1,000 youth, ages 13-24, were interviewed across six sites on subjects including entry into the sex trade, earning a living, finding customers, involvement of pimps and market facilitators, health issues and service needs, interactions with law enforcement, and outlook for the future.

Human Trafficking, Parent Support, Supporting Child Victims, Youth Initiatives

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News

“Already in the Trap”: Young New Yorkers on Why They Carry Guns

March 2, 2022
Vital City

Center researchers explain how their experience and credibility influenced how they approached interviewing New York City youth for our study on gun violence, "Gotta Make Your Own Heaven." They share the importance of centering community voices through this anecdotal narrative of their experience.
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.

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