Youth Development
Lack of adequate space for youth leads to overcrowding and displacement, limiting the number of youth being served at the community center. Youth have also expressed interest in different kinds of programming and opportunities.
For over a year, a team of residents from Tompkins Houses has been meeting with neighbors, city agencies, and community-based organizations to prioritize the community safety issues most important to their development. These teams are at the heart of NeighborhoodStat (or “NStat”). The NStat team meets regularly and has been trained in surveying their community and generating solutions with concrete implementation plans.Through this process, the NStat team engaged Tompkins young adults (ages 16-24) in a 6-month Music Mentorship Program. With Grand Street Settlement and Building Beats, youth were paired with life coaches and participated in a series of workshops to develop their entrepreneurial and leadership skills through music.
The Tompkins Nstat Team led a participatory budgeting process through Local NeighborhoodStat in which residents were invited to submit their own ideas to strengthen safety and build community through built environment projects and/or social programming. The Tompkins Nstat Team collected 522 responses from neighbors. The most popular project and top priority for $30,000 was Educating Our Youth, a youth-based program that focuses on self-awareness and mental health through a series of workshops.
Since its launch in 2014, MAP agency partners have focused their programming to meet a variety of needs, ranging from support of seniors and kinship caregivers, mentorship of young adults, family-friendly programming of playgrounds, safe spaces for teens, assistance with public benefits, youth employment, and more.
The Tompkins Nstat Team is currently building a digital network to stay connected to one another during this time and to develop platforms to reimagine digital public space, co-create safety responses, support community building, and convene city agencies to leverage resources and collaboratively solve local problems.
To learn about selected projects, or to participate in Tompkins Houses ongoing campaign, click here.
Lack of adequate space for youth leads to overcrowding and displacement, limiting the number of youth being served at the community center. Youth have also expressed interest in different kinds of programming and opportunities.
In the past, outdoor events at Tompkins Houses were well-attended and residents connected around basketball tournaments that no longer happen due to the poor condition of the courts. Overall, there is a need for more community engagement and relationship building through programming, stewardship, and activation.
There is a need for more information sharing and relationship building between NYPD and residents. While NYPD Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs) are actively engaged with the team, there is still room for improvement regarding mutual information exchange between the broader Police Department and the Tompkins community.
Please note: In response to the COVID-19 emergency, some programs have been modified. For more information about modified program activities and availability, please click here
Kenesha Traynham-Cooper
MAP Engagement Coordinator
Center for Court Innovation
929-304-5000 cooperk@courtinnovation.orgImani Isaac
MAP Borough Coordinator
Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice
646-384-7546 iisaac@moconsultant.nyc.govDennis Flores
MAP HRA Outreach Supervisor
Human Resources Administration
646-630-4642 floresd@dss.nyc.govChaRon Brabham
Program Director
Tompkins Houses Cornerstone - Grand St. Settlement
718-420-1966 cbrabham@grandsettlement.orgCamilla Barber
Shape Up Outreach Coordinator
Department of Parks and Recreation
Camilla.Barber@parks.nyc.gov