College Ready Panel Discusses How to Pay for College
On Thursday, May 20th, Queens Defenders hosted a panel discussion focused on how to pay for college. Facilitated by Queens Defenders Young Adult Leader Alliyah, panelists answered a series of questions about financial aid, loans, scholarships, and more.
Panelists included Stephanie Whitener of Columbia College, Lucila Villaquiran of Monroe College, John Restrepo of Queens High School for Information, Research & Technology, and Princess Hosein of New Visions Charter High School.
The event was sponsored by the Meringoff Family Foundation. One lucky participant walked away with a brand new Chromebook.
Nearly 50 high school students and parents joined the virtual discussion to hear tips and tricks about paying for college. The expert panelists shared advice and knowledge based on their own experiences teaching and counseling both college and high school students. The Q&A portion at the end of the event allowed participants to get answers to specific questions about unique circumstances.
Missed the event? You can watch a recording of the entire session here.
Queens Defenders Provides Free Tax Assistance to Rockaway Community
In partnership with the Food Band of New York City, Queens Defenders provided nearly 200 people with free tax assistance.
This initiative ran from February 2021 through May 2021, seven days a week. Residents from across the borough came to our Rockaway Community Justice Center for help with their taxes. Queens Defenders staff helped community members complete their taxes safely and securely.
The word quickly spread through the Rockaway community about this free service, which led to some much-needed relief for community members. One woman stopped by, unsure if she owed taxes or not. After her taxes were complete, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that she was entitled to a refund. She said, “You have no idea how much your team helped not only me, but the entire community with this service. The money I saved today will help me to buy food for my family.”
In addition to the money saved from this free tax service, many participants walked away with a free box of food from our food pantry. Queens Defenders is happy to serve our community members from free tax support to providing food justice to all.
Learn more about the supportive services we offer here.
Chalk Walk Raises Awareness for Foster Youth
In honor of Foster Care Awareness Month, the Queens Defenders Community Team participated in a “Chalk Walk” along the Rockaway boardwalk.
On May 25th, people of all ages from around the community gathered to spread awareness about foster care. Participants wrote notes in chalk along the boardwalk, consisting of both facts about foster care and messages of support for foster youth. Others held posters as they marched along the way.
Residents of the St. John’s Home for Boys joined, along with other community partners including local officers and the Rockaway Wave. Seeing messages of support was a heart-warming experiences for the youth in foster care. Everyone walked with a smile on their face, excited to spread awareness about a topic so near to us.
Queens Defenders works with residents of the St. John’s Home for Boys on a weekly basis, providing workshops and restorative services twice per week. These young men are passionate about their community and advocating for themselves and their peers. This event allowed the community to show their support for these young men.
To learn more about our work with St. John’s Home for Boys, visit here.
carousel highlight - 170 Rockaway students
Justice Matters. It’s Your Right.
170 Rockaway students have been trained as Youth Justice Court advocates since 2010. 77 QD felony youth cases were transferred from Criminal Court to Family Court in 2019.
Queens Defenders & Queens Public Library Partnership Program Helps 25 Recent Parolees with Tech Resources
In its first few months, The Immediate Access: Technology Re-entry Program, developed by Queens Defenders and The Queens Public Library, has already equipped twenty-five parolees who were recently released with mobile devices, a data plan, and access to Tech Navigators, who help participants access services, complete housing assistance applications, apply for jobs, and more. This program will expand to serve seventy-five individuals over the next two years.
This innovative program aims to support participants in many ways now that the world has so dramatically changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals returning to their communities from incarceration have to navigate more digital – and in many ways more complex – job markets and application processes, communications platforms, and basic services like securing a driver’s license or ID card. Immediate Access participants are guided by 1:1 Tech Navigators to get their ID’s, participate in OSHA trainings and general job readiness services to lead to employment. In addition, they can use their internet access to enroll in schools, workshops, and programs that support successful pathways based on their interests.
Queens Defenders Program Director Brandon Jefferies said of the program, “The Immediate Access Program, funded though the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is a collaboration with Queens Library helping people on parole that deal with wide ranging service gaps coming home. In society today, without technology and necessities such as ID’s, the barriers turn into a traumatizing reality. Couple that with COVID-19 and it can feel insurmountable. Technology Navigators provide free training to individuals recently released from prison and help them achieve success with a phone, data plan, and other support services. I believe that this Queens Defenders collaboration with Queens Public Library can create a new standard of care for those coming home.”
25 participants are currently receiving free smart phones, data plans, skills training, and job training from our recently hired Technology Navigators Andres Rossel and Tiffany Antiles. These Navigators provide each participant with resources that are needed to take on this technology focused world and avoid recidivism.
For more information about the grant that funded this program read the press release here
Queens Defenders Expands Food Pantry and Community Services to Jamaica Area
Queens Defenders is very excited to share an expansion of our Community Outreach services to the Jamaica area. These new services include weekly pop-up food pantry events, and expansion of our community-based immigration, housing, and legal support, and new initiatives launching in the coming weeks and months.
Since launching the program expansion in February, the Jamaica pop-up food pantry quickly grew to reach hundreds of families each week. Food distribution events are held every Wednesday afternoon. The Jamaica Justice Center also served as a COVID-19 vaccination site conducted in partnership with Community Healthcare Network. Thanks to the help of this great organization, Queens Defenders was able to provide 120 Moderna vaccination shots and 300 Johnson & Johnson vaccinations over two events in March and April.
With new additions to our community relations team – Johanna Flores, Community Coordinator and Sarah Murphy, Community Assistant – Queens Defenders is able to provide more events like these to provide essential services in a centralized location for Queens Defenders clients and residents throughout the borough. These new hires, including Employment Specialist Ronald Anderson, have the goal of creating a training and employment program that will create a streamlined process giving Queens Defenders clients the job readiness training needed to enter the workforce.
For more information on Food Pantry distribution events and services offered at the Jamaica Justice Center, please contact jflores@queensdefenders.org
Queens Defenders Food Pantry Partners with JEWELEX to Serve Thousands of Families
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the unimaginable impact it had on our community, Queens Defenders began a Food Pantry to serve families impacted by domestic violence in Far Rockaway. As previously shared, this program’s need grew exponentially as the pandemic continued through the year.
In the fall of 2020, we were thrilled to establish a partnership with JEWELEX to meet the demand for this essential service in southeast Queens and expand to more communities in the borough.
Support from JEWELEX has allowed the Queens Defenders Food Pantry to expand food distribution events to our Jamaica Justice Center. And with the continued support of our partners – The Campaign Against Hunger, 9 Million Reasons, Food Bank for NYC, Fresh Direct, Rockaway Mutual Aid, Beach 40th Street Tenant Association, the Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula, Hour Children, and NYCHA – we are able to serve hundreds of families each week resulting in over 30,000 boxes of food getting into the hands of our community since January 2021.
Stanislav Khaldarov, Esq., Queens Defenders Director of Food Justice and lead of the Food Pantry, said this of the expansion, "Looking back on the past year, the Food Justice Program is very proud of the impact we have made in our community. Everyone deserves to eat. Our biggest reward is seeing the smiles on peoples faces and a glimmer of hope in their eyes. We will continue to work hard along with our community partners to secure and distribute a variety of food to anyone who needs it."
A JEWELEX company spokesperson states, "JEWELEX believes that being kind, considerate, generous, enthusiastic, and encouraging is always the right choice. We are proud to partner with Queens Defenders on this very important project and to work with an organization that reflects these values."
In addition to supporting the Food Pantry, JEWELEX has been an insightful and generous sponsor for the Community Outreach programs at Queens Defenders. This past winter, JEWELEX went above and beyond for Queens Defenders clients by collecting and donating over 100 coats during a winter coat drive. Queens Defenders is thankful for their unrelenting support allowing us to give back to our community.
If you are in need of food support in the Far Rockaway area, there are weekly pop-up food pantries at the Rockaway Community Justice Center.
WHEN: Wednesdays & Fridays at 2:00PM
WHERE: Rockaway Community Justice Center | 1922 Mott Avenue | Far Rockaway
For more information contact sibanez@queensdefenders.org
Youth Justice Court Goes Virtual
The Queens Defenders Youth Justice Court program serves as a bridge to mend relationships in communities and schools throughout Queens. Teens volunteer to join our program and become trained peer prosecutors, defense attorneys, and jurors in trials where their peers committed an act that violated school code or laws. Using a restorative justice approach, teens deliberate and deliver a beneficial consequence to help the young person acknowledge their wrong and learn from it.
Pre-pandemic, meetings were held in person at neighboring Queens Libraries and high schools. There, the young people would learn about the process of a criminal trial, legal terms, and constructing oral arguments. Using mock-trials that we created based on high-profile cases and celebrity names, the young people strengthened their trial argument skills.
Fast forward to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the youth justice court team worked tirelessly to move the program completely virtual. With the state-mandated lockdown, we had to construct new material and lessons that would be easy to deliver through a virtual platform. We revamped our focus to incorporate the issues at hand: voters’ rights, police brutality, Know Your Rights workshops, and the Black Lives Matter movement. We wanted the youth to become informed on issues arising in their communities.
Despite moving to virtual programming, our young people continued to log-in each week. They wanted a place to voice their opinions on the current events impacting their communities and allow them to express their passion and concerns. This sparked many passionate debates that often exceed past the scheduled program time. Because the issues we discuss have lit a fire in our young people, they are now researching their topics to support their reasoning and strengthen their arguments. Each week we are able to teach and discuss new policies and laws that play a major role in the events happening today.
To apply or learn more about our YJC Programs, click here.
Building Up Young People and Giving Space to Thrive as an Activist
The Queens Defenders BLANK Project allows for local youth to learn about the law, how to organize, and bring awareness to current events and social issues. It is a place for those who want to make change to connect and learn how to make their communities a better place. Each month the group takes on different topics or causes to raise awareness and find ways they can help in their community.
The BLANK project currently consists of 23 members from the ages 16-23 from across Queens. These active members are dedicated to making meaningful change in their community, and three members have joined their local NYC Community Board. Over the past few months, they’ve organized large town halls on topics such as human rights, women empowerment, mental health, black history month, foster care, and police relations. These town halls have included local State Senators and other elected representatives, police, and many other community leaders, giving the BLANK Project youth opportunities to directly engage with their community.
“The BLANK Project is a platform that allows youth to take control and own their power for the good of their community. Be it through advocacy, discussion and planning, the youth are the drivers of BLANK - Building Leaders in A New Kulture. The teens participating determine not only what matters, but what needs to do done for the community, as a community.” Director of Youth Programs Brandon Jefferies states of the project, “The BLANK Project has been a constant inspiration of change, watching our youth take the lead and come into their own. Virtual Townhall discussions, peaceful protests, awareness events are just a few of the formats they consider. From Alexandra Brathwaite, Social Rights Coordinator, spearheading this platform to Jaden Gabb, a Queens Defender H.W. Helper, giving powerful insight. I have no doubt we are supporting future leaders in the making. To all the youth giving their time to the BLANK Project, thank you in advance.”
Alexandra Brathwaite, Social Justice Coordinator at Queens Defenders, stated, “We launched this program to provide our young people with a targeted and focused opportunity to address social justice in their communities. The program provides a platform where participants can express their concerns and frustrations with the systems they interact with every day, and where they can feel liberated and advocate for their communities."
The month of April has many awareness topics, from workshops on Fair Housing, Reentry & Restorative Justice, Autism, and Sexual Health & Wellness conducted in partnership with Planned Parenthood, culminating in a large town hall focused on the Stop Asian Hate movement at the end of the month. If you would like to join The BLANK Project, e-mail abrathwaite@queensdefenders.org to receive the application. The BLANK Project enrollment is open all year. If you’re interested in social justice, activism, and advocacy, you are encouraged to apply.
To preview The BLANK Project’s town halls, visit the Queens Defenders YouTube Page.
Queens Defenders Receives Grant from the New York Bar Foundation for the Rockaway Community Justice Center
April, 2021
Queens Defenders has been awarded a grant by The New York Bar Foundation for its Rockaway Community Justice Center – the Rockaway peninsula’s only court alternative program that is operated in partnership with the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
Launched in April 2020, the Rockaway Community Justice Center (RCJC) aims to give youth ages 18-24 who commit non-violent misdemeanors in the Rockaways section of Queens the opportunity to benefit from a restorative justice-based process instead of being tried in Queens Criminal Court. The RCJC provides a chance for offenders to appear at community-led hearings, repay their community through rehabilitative methods that preserve their dignity, develop skills and gain job experience, receive referrals to needed services, and leave the program without a criminal record.
“The New York Bar Foundation is deeply impressed with the restorative justice goals and plans of the Queens Defenders Rockaway Community Justice Center and we are pleased to support the launch of this worthy effort,” said Lesley Rosenthal, President of the Foundation. “This effort is emblematic of our efforts to enhance access justice and promote racial equity in New York through our grant-making and public education programs.”
The New York Bar Foundation’s grant will support the Rockaway Community Justice Center’s first year of operation. Their funding will ensure Queens Defenders has the resources to offer on-site support services from social workers, trained attorneys, and advocates, and connect participants to opportunities to develop life skills that will help avoid future contact with the criminal justice system. Additionally, this first-time grant for the RCJC by the New York Bar Foundation will raise the program’s profile and help Queens Defenders secure additional funding from new government, foundation, and corporate partners.
Lori Zeno, Executive Director & Founder of Queens Defenders said, “We are extremely grateful to the New York Bar Foundation for being the Rockaway Community Justice Center’s first institutional supporter. The Foundation’s commitment to this innovative court-alternative for the residents of Far Rockaway ensures the individuals served through this first-of-its-kind initiative in the borough of Queens will not have their lives derailed for low-level infractions or a missed court appearance due to long travel times from Far Rockaway to Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens. Through the Rockaway Community Justice Center, participants will be able to develop skills, make vital connections in their communities, and avoid future involvement with the criminal justice system.”
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