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NewYork-Presbyterian, in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center, has received a four year, $10.3 million grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (“CJII”) to establish a Youth Opportunity Hub in Washington Heights. The grant will allow NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, along with other community partners, to serve 250 youths aged 14 to 24 years, who have been or are at risk for involvement with the juvenile or adult judicial systems.  

“The goal of our Youth Opportunity Hub will be to provide comprehensive assessment and case management to address all barriers that young people face in the Washington Heights neighborhood as they actively seek to become healthy, productive adults, with advanced educations and employment opportunities,” said David Alge, senior vice president, Community & Population Health at NewYork-Presbyterian.

The new center will provide access to a wide range of community programs, including services for medical care, reproductive health and HIV/STI prevention, trauma-informed mental health treatment, and substance use counseling. In addition, the Hub will offer services for the assessment and advocacy for learning disabilities, afterschool tutoring and educational attainment, employment readiness and placement, and a young fathers program. Other planned offerings include neighborhood community service and youth development groups, and recreation, and arts activities. Hub activities will be provided six days a week, including evenings, 12 months a year.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said: “The role of law enforcement in the 21st century is not merely to arrest and prosecute. We can deliver greater public safety and healthier communities if we prevent young people from coming into contact with the justice system in the first place. The ill-gotten gains seized in our financial crime prosecutions represent a windfall opportunity to prevent crime by investing in our youth. I am thrilled to invest these funds in 100 of New York’s most venerable youth and family service organizations in East Harlem, Central and West Harlem, Washington Heights, and the Lower East Side. By creating attractive spaces offering one-stop resources and serving thousands of additional young people and families, we can help build the strongest generation of New Yorkers yet.” 

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office created CJII using criminal forfeiture funds obtained through settlements with international banks for violating U.S. sanctions, to provide grants for programs that improve public safety, prevent crime, and increase fairness in the criminal justice system. The District Attorney’s Office awarded $45.9 million through the CJII for the creation of five Youth Opportunity Hubs throughout New York City which will knit together community-based providers to deliver coordinated services in new or updated physical spaces for young people in target neighborhoods. Recognizing that young people utilize supportive services at higher rates when such services are easily accessible, this “neighborhood Hub” approach coordinates family, community, school and city resources in attractive and convenient locations within underserved neighborhoods.

Partners in the Washington Heights Youth Opportunity Hub include: Columbia University Medical Center Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Promise Project, Hostos Community College, People’s Theatre Project, C. Hyden Technology Consultant, Fundacion Dominicana de Deportes in NY (Washington Heights Athletic Association), Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, All City Group, NYC Department of Education District 79 Alternative High Schools, Year Up, Harlem Tae Kwon Do, and Hip Hop Mentoring Cypher.

In addition to the grant funding for the Youth Opportunity Hub, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center received an additional $1.3 million grant from CJII for Family and Youth Development initiatives to expand capacity in existing programs and develop new innovative platforms to support to at-risk young people and their families in Washington Heights. This grant will be used towards behavior management and trauma training for educators; identification and educational coordination for children with learning disorders; parent workshops in education advocacy; in-home parenting support; and therapy and parenting skills groups.

NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation’s most comprehensive healthcare delivery networks, focused on providing innovative and compassionate care to patients in the New York metropolitan area and throughout the globe. In collaboration with two renowned medical school partners, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently recognized as a leader in medical education, groundbreaking research and clinical innovation.

NewYork-Presbyterian has four major divisions: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is ranked #1 in the New York metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report and repeatedly named to the magazine’s Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation; NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Hospital Network is comprised of leading hospitals in and around New York and delivers high-quality care to patients throughout the region; NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services connects medical experts with patients in their communities; and NewYork-Presbyterian Community and Population Health features the hospital’s ambulatory care network sites and operations, community care initiatives and healthcare quality programs, including NewYork Quality Care, established by NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell and Columbia.

NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S. Each year, nearly 40,000 NewYork-Presbyterian professionals deliver exceptional care for more than 4 million patient visits. For more information, visit www.nyp.org and find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. The campus that Columbia University Medical Center shares with its hospital partner, NewYork-Presbyterian, is now called the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.  For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.