Adams Street Youth Leadership Council

Project snapshot

Bridging The Gap: Building Community Between Youth and Police, is a community event that will improve the relationship between police and youth in Downtown Brooklyn. This project is needed within our community due to the biased relationships between police and students. Currently, the relationship between many youth of color and police is distant and often rampant with misunderstanding. As a result, disagreements easily escalate and youth do not see the police as a reliable resource to turn to when they need support. We’ve seen this as a common theme expressed throughout surveys administered to students in our school. In fact, 54% of students surveyed reported that they did not feel safe when there were a lot of police officers around. This leaves our community divided and less safe. During Bridging the Gap, participants will uncover biases held towards one another and begin to establish meaningful, cooperative relationships. Bridging the Gap will run as a 3 hour long community event, similar to a field day, in a local park or school gym. Students from local schools, the 84th Precinct, and youth officers would be invited to attend this event. Students and officers will be paired together for activities and engage in competitive tasks, meaningful conversations, and joyful experiences. Throughout the event, we will highlight and practice effective communication skills and build relationships between these two often opposing groups by asking questions that uncover bias and promote vulnerability while also establishing trust between the two groups. Bridging the Gap will also allow us to create relationships with local schools and connect with student leaders in order to plan in-day events to continue to foster relationships between police officers and students in Downtown Brooklyn the following school year. We will reuse materials purchased for Bridging the Gap and leverage our growing relationships with local schools to obtain the resources needed for school-specific police and student community building programs. By improving the relationship between students and police in downtown Brooklyn, police discrimination against students of color will decrease and police efforts to de-escalate problems amongst students will be more effective. Improved relationships lead to improved communication, compassion, and understanding. As a result, all members of our community will benefit.