Staten Island NYPD expands summer youth program after successful 2024 launch
- wix factor
- Sep 18
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 25
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — In an effort to be a positive influence in the lives of Staten Island children, the NYPD has renewed the Community Corners initiative.
This initiative aims to serve and engage the children of various communities on Staten Island during the summer months when school is in recess.
For four days in the week — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday — through Aug. 29, the NYPD’s Patrol Borough Staten Island will host Community Corners events at five different locations.
The events offer games, food, music and an opportunity for the borough’s youth to engage in fun activities alongside members of the NYPD.
As explained by Assistant Chief Melissa Eger, Staten Island borough commander, the initiative was launched last year under the leadership of former borough commander and current Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta.
“It was a huge hit and we found that it was so much of a hit that we needed to expand it and ask for partners,” Eger said.
The NYPD’s call for aid was answered by the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, as well as Urban Hope NYC, a non-profit consisting of a network of North Shore churches, which aims to support vulnerable communities.
“We’ve been working with the police since last summer, and it’s been extraordinary because they give us the block and we can bring the party and the partnership’s been fantastic,“ Pastor David Beidel, president and founder of Urban Hope NYC, told the Advance/SILive.com during a Community Corners event outside PS 78, Stapleton, Thursday afternoon.
In an extra-special celebration, the NYPD and partners organized a carnival, complete with a climbing wall, an inflatable obstacle course and various activities for the scores of children that stopped in.
As part of the program, several restaurants have catered for the events in rotation, Biedel said.
“The kids are all getting a feast every week,” Biedel said. “So, what I always tell the kids is that ‘the whole community is loving you and pulling for you.’ And they feel it. They feel it. Very few are feeling hopeless anymore.”
As explained by District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, the five Community Corners sites were selected specifically because they are spots where crime numbers have been a concern in recent years.
“These areas were chosen, quite simply, because these are areas where we think engaging with the children, engaging with their families, will just help us in continuing to bring these numbers down,” McMahon said.
Of the five locations, the four within the confines of the 120th Precinct are also within violence reduction zones chosen by the NYPD, said Eger, chief of department and the chief of crime control strategies.
In the day, the areas see community engagement initiatives such as Community Corners, and in the evening, they see a heightened police presence.
“Violence reduction isn’t only arrests, apprehensions, you know, criminal complaints,” added Eger. “It’s also engaging communities, engaging the youth and involving them in a more positive direction, especially in the summertime.”
During Thursday’s event, members of law enforcement were visibly engaged with the community, with many partaking in games and activities alongside the children.
Another partner in making Thursday’s event possible was Jodi Contento, the principal of PS 78, who said the partnership has “brought a lot of love and joy and peace into our school and our community.”
While many attendees of Thursday’s event were participants of the Police Athletic League, others were simply residents of the area stopping in.
“It’s pretty dope,’' for the kids who are not participants in other programs, like the Police Athletic League, said Tatianna Evans, a Stapleton mother. ”It’s good that they open it up for the community and not just for the school,’' she said.
The Community Corners locations are also open on Wednesdays as part of the Police Commissioner’s Day of Play initiative.
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