Avenues for Justice - Andrew Glover Youth Program

Last week, AFJ’s Job Developer, Shantel Brooks, took six Participants on a tour of the Boys Club of New York (BCNY) Gerry Clubhouse in Harlem.

Led by Gerry Clubhouse Director Terrence Taylor, the group got an inside look at the wide range of programming BCNY offers young people, from Explorers (ages 7–9), Juniors (ages 10–12), to Teens (ages 13–18). Participants explored spaces including the robotics lab, hydroponics room, gyms, swimming pool, music rooms, and more.

They also learned about BCNY’s basketball programs, including their 14U and 17U teams, along with other athletic and recreational opportunities that help youth build skills, confidence, and community. The visit highlighted additional offerings like sleepaway camp and the lifeguard program, expanding what Participants could envision for themselves beyond the classroom.

A huge thank you to Avita Bansee, Managing Director of Communications & Partnerships, and Terrence Taylor for coordinating and leading such a meaningful experience for our youth and staff.

We’re grateful for opportunities like this that connect young people to resources, inspiration, and real pathways forward.



📸: AFJ Participant Aaron

Last week, AFJ’s Job Developer, Shantel Brooks, took six Participants on a tour of the Boys Club of New York (BCNY) Gerry Clubhouse in Harlem.

Led by Gerry Clubhouse Director Terrence Taylor, the group got an inside look at the wide range of programming BCNY offers young people, from Explorers (ages 7–9), Juniors (ages 10–12), to Teens (ages 13–18). Participants explored spaces including the robotics lab, hydroponics room, gyms, swimming pool, music rooms, and more.

They also learned about BCNY’s basketball programs, including their 14U and 17U teams, along with other athletic and recreational opportunities that help youth build skills, confidence, and community. The visit highlighted additional offerings like sleepaway camp and the lifeguard program, expanding what Participants could envision for themselves beyond the classroom.

A huge thank you to Avita Bansee, Managing Director of Communications & Partnerships, and Terrence Taylor for coordinating and leading such a meaningful experience for our youth and staff.

We’re grateful for opportunities like this that connect young people to resources, inspiration, and real pathways forward.

Join us for Avenues for Justice’s Juneteenth Father’s Day Panel on June 17, featuring Rev. A. R. Bernard, Congressman Daniel Goldman, Assembly Member Keith Powers, Commissioner Wade Hardy, Brian Buckmire, AFJ Board Chair Dean Schaffer, and AFJ Participant Aaron. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Dennis Ibude.

RSVP by emailing [email protected]

At AFJ, we see the person, not the statistic. Each Participant who walks through our doors is offered an individualized action plan that helps us respond to their mandate and situation in a way that is personalized to their journey.

This perspective reflects a model of justice rooted in accountability and dignity.

Hear from our Executive Director, Liz Frederick, featured in for helping bring visibility to stories that are too often reduced to numbers and inaccurate headlines.

LINK OUR BIO!!!

Mass incarceration doesn’t only impact the individual. It impacts families, children, mental health, economic stability, and entire communities for generations.

In our newest Voices piece, we explore the emotional and psychological toll on Black and Brown communities disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system. We also hear from of , who brings this work directly into our AFJ HIRE Up programming and helps deepen how we understand trauma, behavior, and healing in real time with young people.

Because mental health is not separate from justice. And healing cannot happen without acknowledging what communities have been carrying for decades.

Read more at the link in bio.

Before Memorial Day was a federal holiday, it was an act of love by freed Black Americans. On May 1, 1865, nearly 10,000 people, most of them newly freed from enslavement, gathered at Charleston's Washington Race Course to honor 257 Union soldiers buried in a mass grave.

They reburied them with dignity, built a fence inscribed 'Martyrs of the Race Course,' and marched with flowers. That was the first Memorial Day.

These photos tell that story.

—

Photo 1: Frances Benjamin Johnston, Children Saluting the Flag at Whittier Primary School, 1899–1900.

Photo 2: The clubhouse at Charleston’s Washington Race Course, which served as a Confederate prison for Union officers during the final year of the Civil War. On these same grounds, freed Black Americans gathered on May 1, 1865, to honor the Union dead. Source: Library of Congress.

Photo 3 (Top): 4th United States Colored Troops. Source: Library of Congress.

Photo 3 (Bottom): In April 1865, freed Black Charlestonians exhumed Union soldiers from a mass grave and reburied them in marked graves, restoring dignity to 257 men the Confederacy had denied. Source: Library of Congress.

Photo 4: “Martyrs of the Race Course,” The Charleston Daily Courier, Charleston, South Carolina, Tuesday, May 2, 1865. Newspaper clipping.

Many of the young people who walk through our doors are mandated to AFJ, some for longer periods than others. But when they continue coming back beyond the mandate, that’s how we know AFJ has created a welcoming and safe space for the youth of New York City.

In our latest newsletter, we share the stories of two Participants, Joel and Carlos, who were initially mandated to AFJ, but kept coming back long after their requirements were fulfilled, and how our wraparound services made all the difference.

Read our latest newsletter using the LINK IN OUR BIO!

Photo 1: AFJ Participant Joel preps vegetables as part of our culinary series with Chef Yaya of KDS Comfort foods.

Photo 2: AFJ Participant Carlos with his Court Advocate, Julia, at our coworking space in Soho.

You get leaders like Kaysean and Donald. A Second Chance: Stories of Young Offenders hosted two of our Participants in their recent podcast episode to share how mentorship, the Leadership Council, and the AFJ community helped them build confidence, strengthen self-control, and find purpose in using their voices to uplift others. Their stories are a reminder that our work is never just about avoiding incarceration. It is about creating space for growth, leadership, and possibility.

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts to hear directly from the young people at the heart of Avenues for Justice.

What does it do to a young person’s mental health when they are perceived as a threat before they even speak?

In our newest AFJ Voices blog, featuring insights from AFJ Board Member U.S. Magistrate Judge (ret.) Cheryl L. Pollak, we examine the emotional and psychological toll many Black and Brown youth carry every day, and why conversations about mental health must include honest discussions about bias, fear, and the chronic stress of navigating both.

Read the full piece using the LINK IN OUR BIO!

In the early 1970s in the Lower East Side, relationships formed between community members, local police officers, and youth. The relationships centered around a shared belief that young people deserved guidance and opportunity, not to be defined by a single interaction with the legal system. One of those officers was PO Andrew Glover of the 9th Precinct, who patrolled LES and organized after-school activities for neighborhood youth.
When Angel Rodriguez joined this effort as a youth counselor, he stepped into work that would become his life’s mission. He advocated inside courtrooms for young people to receive support instead of punishment at a time when the Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) model was unheard of.

After PO Glover was killed in the line of duty in 1975, the organization was named in his honor. A few years later, Angel carried the mission forward, incorporating the Andrew Glover Youth Program in 1979, securing space inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, and eventually establishing a permanent home on Avenue B near Tompkins Square Park. That is where our flagship community center has been for 41 years on the street co-named “Avenues for Justice Way”.

“It means a lot watching my father being honored through the incredible work of Avenues for Justice. His legacy and commitment to helping young people continue to inspire me, and I’m grateful for all that Avenues for Justice does for the community.” ~Andrea Dyson, the daughter of PO Andrew Glover