This month, my office, together with Brooklyn clergy, the New York State Office of Court Administration, the Legal Aid Society and the New York City Police Department will implement Project Safe Surrender, a community program designed to help individuals resolve outstanding summonses and warrants.
While helping Brooklyn residents to address their open warrants and summonses, the program also assists them with reentering society, without low-level crimes holding them back, and by connecting people with vital social services, including housing, employment, job training and education.
The program was first introduced in June of 2009 at Saint Pauls Baptist Church, and successfully repeated over the last two years at the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church and the Antioch Baptist Church, as well as at The Mount Sion Baptist Church.
The summonses included charges for offenses such as Unlawful Possession of Marijuana, Unlawful Possession of Alcohol under the age of 21, Consumption of Alcohol in Public, Unlawful Possession of Handcuffs, Littering, Spitting, Riding a Bicycle on a Sidewalk, Trespassing, Loitering, Disorderly Conduct, Making Unreasonable Noise, Failure to have a Dog License, Animal Nuisance, Unleashed Dog, Unlawfully in the Park After Closing, and Failure to Comply with Posted Signs in the Park.
The upcoming event will take place on Friday, March 29, 2013 and Saturday, March 30, 2013, at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church at 212 Tompkins Avenue, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be a resource fair and food available at the site, which is located on the corner of Tompkins and DeKalb Avenues.
For more information call Pastor Johnny Ray Youngblood at 718-388-3900, or my office, at 718-250-3888 or visit www.projectsafesurrender.org/.
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