Corps member helps organize "Week of Peace" events in Crown Heights

During their first month of service, Juvenile Justice Corps members Anthony Mohen and Radel Clause helped organize events for the "Week of Peace" in Crown Heights. Anthony and Radel serve with the Save Our Streets ("S.O.S.") and Youth Organizing to Save Our Streets ("YO S.O.S.") programs at the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center.  

The highlight of the Week of Peace was the Second Annual Peach March on October 20^th. Three hundred people marched in the streets of Crown Heights, including a number of schools, churches, and other community organizations, as well as severeal members of the Juvenile Justice Corps. Chants such as “Don’t Shoot! I want to Grow up!”, “I don’t know what you’ve been told; Bullets kill both young and old…” and “You save my child; I’ll save your child” were heard loud and clear as members of the community marched from Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue, to Kingston Avenue. The march ended outside Brower Park with a rally and ceremony to support and remember victims of violence and their families, to celebrate the positive changes we are continuing to make in our community, and to commit to work as a community to promote nonviolence. Three hundred balloons were released into the air with messages of peace, solidarity, and remembrance inscribed on them by members of the community.

On Friday, October 21^st Corps members helped organize a screening of The Interrupters, a movie about the Chicago CeaseFire program on which the S.O.S. program is modeled. The screening drew a crowd of over 100 people including members of the New York Juvenile Justice Corps. After the film, audience members had the opportunity to ask questions of our own Crown Heights Violence Interrupters and Outreach Workers. Attendees also wrote notes to the S.O.S. team, who appreciated hearing about the impact their work has had on the community and that the community supports them in their work.