About this Event
Join us for an inspiring evening as we celebrate the accomplishments of the Justice Ambassadors Youth Council’s 7th graduating class. The ceremony will highlight policy proposals designed to improve the lives of community youth—collaboratively developed by youth participants and city government members during the Justice Ambassadors Seminar. This special event is presented in proud partnership with Columbia World Projects.
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About Justice Ambassadors:
The Justice Ambassador Youth Council (JAYC) is a 12-week social action and life skills building educational seminar that brings together government officials and 18-25 year-olds – many of whom are legal system impacted or gang involved – and come from New York City’s most under-served neighborhoods. The JAYC approach is founded on the principle of policy-by-proximity, a model that prioritizes incorporating the voices and lived experiences of individuals directly affected by public crises. This approach ensures that these perspectives are integral to policy development discussions with government officials, fostering systemic reform and driving community change.
At its core, JAYC recognizes youth lived-experience as an under-appreciated expertise and empowers youth to leverage this expertise to directly shape policies and community interventions intended to support the healthy development of communities. In our learning environment, youth and government officials learn from and alongside one another while engaging in topics like mass incarceration, food and housing insecurity, gun violence, mental health, and prejudicial policing. Each cohort features a diverse group of youth, government leaders, Columbia students, and formerly incarcerated credible mentors.
The ultimate goal of Justice Ambassadors is to create co-authored policies through the collaboration of city leaders and young people across New York City. By cultivating a broad network of individuals and government agencies dedicated to policy-by-proximity, JAYC seeks to generate the critical thinking needed to transform the legal system and foster paths toward communal empowerment, safety, and well-being.
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Justice Ambassadors Centralizes Three Core Pillars of Change:
1) Personal Change: Members are introduced to critical life skills for healthy decision-making and encouraged to adopt new ways of achieving justice. Each member completes a personal statement that identifies an aspect of themselves, their community, and/or agency they wish to change.
2) Community Change- Youth conduct group presentations at NYC government offices or community centers to advocate for the implementation of their policy ideas and
3) Social Change: Youth and city officials develop co-authored policy proposals that seek to address societal challenges like gun violence, homelessness, and so on. In sum, the Justice Ambassadors build on the leadership skills of youth and provide them with the opportunity to become drivers of institutional and community change.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Forum at Columbia University, 601 West 125th Street, New York, United States
USD 0.00