Greenpoint Youth Court finds new home after lease expires
A Greenpoint program that helps troubled young people lost its lease and was threatened with closure when Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D-Greenpoint-Williamsburg) stepped in on its behalf and secured a new space within the same building. The Greenpoint Youth Court will still be housed in the Polish Slavic Center at 176 Java St., according to Lentol, who said the program’s directors are signing a long-term lease for the space.
Sponsored by the non-profit Center for Court Innovation, the Greenpoint Youth Court is a program for young people aged 10 to 18 who are referred to the program by local schools, police officers, probation officers and family court attorneys for offenses such as vandalism, disorderly conduct, assault, and truancy. The young people appear before a judge and jury of their peers – other neighborhood teens – who determine fair and appropriate responses.
“The work they do for the community is priceless,” Lentol said. “They provide young children with alternatives to the justice system, which has been known to often steer kids in the wrong direction. Finding innovative ways to dealing with them while they develop is essential, as children have exponentially high chances for recidivism. The work the Greenpoint Youth Court does is so critical to leading children on the right path and I am happy that we were able to find them a new space right here in the neighborhood,” he said.
The program might have had to leave the neighborhood if a new space wasn’t found, he said.