DA Launches Grants for Youth Services, Crime Prevention
Nearly 30 organizations in Queens have been named as recipients of a new grant from the Queens district attorney’s office designed to fund youth development and crime prevention programs.
District Attorney Melinda Katz named 28 Queens organizations last week that will each be the recipient of a $50,000 grant to help implement Katz’s Community Youth Development and Crime Prevention Project.
Queens Defenders, a legal services provider in the borough, was one of the grant’s recipients and will direct the funds toward existing youth programs in the organization.
The funds will support Queens Defenders’ Rockaway Community Justice Center – home to a number of programs aimed at teens, most notably its alternative community court.
The restorative justice court has a panel of community members that hears low level and misdemeanor cases sent to them by the Queens district attorney's office – the court was created in collaboration with the DA’s office last year.