Today, for our last installment in our Summer in a Safe City Campaign (#NYCSafeSummer) grantee highlights series, we want to introduce another one of our amazing grantees, the Police Athletic League (“PAL”). Since its inception in 1914, PAL has been serving New York City’s youth with programming dedicated to engage young children in positive activities and programs that will not only improve their quality of life, but will offer the prospect of brighter, more successful futures through job preparation programs. PAL is New York City’s largest independent youth development organization that operates head start/daycare, after-school, evening teen, summer day camp, youth employment, truancy prevention, juvenile justice and re-entry, city-wide sports, play streets and part-time centers, food service, and adventure learning programs for pre-school kids, children and adolescents ages 3 to 19. 1
Our grant to PAL supports the John A. Reisenbach Youth Link Internship program. The internship program is an early intervention initiative aiming to reduce recidivism rates amongst youth who have entered the juvenile system. Specifically tailored for youth in East New York, Brooklyn (one of the neighborhoods with the highest crime rate in New York City), the program offers individual counseling, skill-building workshops, and assistance with reconnecting with school and the community after their arrest. Without intervention, four out of five court-involved youth are arrested, whereas 88% of Youth Link graduates stay out of the criminal justice system for at least three years. The program protects these young people from becoming unproductive members of society or “career criminals” and allows them to have a brighter future. With the support of PAL and the Reisenbach Foundation, 100% of interns successfully completed their probation and well surpassed their personal goals and expectations.
Your donation to the Summer in a Safe City Campaign will enable PAL to continue providing important early intervention initiatives to guide these young people from participating in future criminal activity. This grant will give them hands-on job training and academic tutoring stimulating enough to reinvigorate their love for education and hopefully inspire them to attend higher education institutions. Click here to donate: http://bit.ly/1r3M35i
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