Youth and Congregations in Partnership

YCP is an intervention program for court-involved youths established by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. The program matches Brooklyn court-involved youths with a committee of mentors from a Brooklyn congregation. The program is premised on the belief that “[t]he transforming power of the religious congregation is the best hope for helping non-violent offenders escape the destructive cycle of courts, jail, probation, and repeated offenses.” (One Church—One Offender, Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind.)

The church forms one or more YCP committees of 3-6 mentors from their congregation. Each youth is assessed for “matching” with a congregation based several factors including the seriousness of the crime, family background and personal circumstances, prior contact with the justice system, and the youth’s participation. The committee keeps in weekly contact with the youth, and reports monthly to a social worker on the youth’s progress in reaching his or her established personal development goals. The youth must cooperate with theYCP committee for up to one year, and must follow through on all probationary conditions, and thereafter the youth’s juvenile record is sealed.

Each youth eligible for the program is ages 13-22. Each youth enrolled in the program has been convicted of a crime, but does not have “a pattern of violent felony offenses or major psychiatric illnesses.”

Volunteers will receive 8 hours of training on their roles as mentors from Community Counseling and Mediation, including instruction on establishing rapport with difficult to reach youth, and setting realistic goals. Also, volunteers must complete a registration form with personal background information, references, etc., a State Central Register screening form, a comprehensive interview, and fingerprinting.

If you might be interested in mentoring through the YCP program, please speak with Sandhya Reju, Community Ministries Team Coordinator, who will try to help congregation members organize into potential YCP teams of 3-6 mentors.

Contact: Deborah Lashley, Executive Assistant District Attorney, Juvenile Crimes Bureau
phone #:(718)250-3804
Website
 

Site Map