Peace Academy

East New York has traditionally been an area of great potential and great need. The community is well situated between two major parkways: The Belt Parkway and the Jackie Robinson parkway. New housing stock (Nehemiah Homes and NYC Partnership Housing) has filtered into the community and a major new shopping area has been introduced. East New York is less than 20 minutes away from Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, and downtown Brooklyn – all areas of greater affluence but not greater potential. East New York has the ability to “hold its own” with some of the best communities and neighborhoods n the city.

At the same time, however, East New York is plagues by serious problems that detract from the positive changes and improvement that it is going through. Certainly, violence continues to be a serious issue that needs to be addressed and contained. Violence is no stranger to most streets in East New York. Car theft and robbery are becoming increasingly common. Drug trafficking and prostitutes walk our streets on a daily basis, bringing a level of fear, anxiety and tension to families throughout our community. Many of us know of unfortunate case of child or elder abuse. Domestic violence, too, has reared its head cases in many of our homes and inter-family strife and squabbles have become more and more common. Many domestic disputes, that begin at home, often spill out onto the streets, reducing the personal safety for our community residents and transforming family discontent into social discord.

For East New York to realize its potential, and become the premier neighborhood that it can be, the East New York Urban Youth Corps is proposing the formation of a Peace Academy that will exist on a cabinet level and bring together all the many critical stakeholders who are central to carrying out our local mission and enacting our vision.

Increase The Peace

Winchester Key, President/CEO of East New York Urban Youth Corps has created the Increase The Peace Stop the Violence program. ENYUYC in collaboration with the residents of East New York joined efforts to eliminate violence from the community, improve the community and, thus, improve the quality of life for all residents.

We will sponsor and organize activities and events that offer alternatives to violence and promote the goal “Increase the Peace Stop the Violence”

• Annual Stop the Violence March
• Annual Youth Recognition Banquet
• Annual Adult Recognition Banquet
• Police/Community Town Hall Meetings
• School Outreach (School District 19)
   -Peer Groups
   -Presentations
• Annual Concert
• Mentoring Program
• Outreach to Faith Communities
• Neighborhood Patrol
• Workshops on Violence Prevention