Founded in 2012, Young New Yorkers’ restorative art diversion programs allow young people to exit the criminal legal system, have their cases dismissed and sealed, and avoid a life-long criminal record.

In addition, our graduate programs offer long-term opportunities for young people to transform the criminal justice system through advocacy forums, public art exhibitions, and other events. These events often take place in courtrooms where participants can engage criminal justice professionals and leaders and advocate for a more humane criminal legal system.

In ten years we have successfully diverted more than 1,400 young people away from jail and other sanctions. Today, we remain the only citywide provider of arts-based diversion programs.

ABOUT US

Who we are

Our Mission

To transform the criminal legal system through the creative voices of young New Yorkers.

Mission

Our Principles

ART NOT JAIL.

YNY’s court-mandated programs are developmentally appropriate restorative sentencing options, allowing court-involved young people to avoid jail time and other sanctions.

DISMISSED AND SEALED.

Upon completing a YNY program, a young person’s criminal case is dismissed and sealed, so that they avoid a lifelong criminal record whose collateral consequences can be devastating.

RACIAL JUSTICE.

Acknowledging that people of color are disproportionately arrested and more harshly sentenced, YNY applies a racial justice framework to our curricula and all levels of operations.

Priniples

OUR HISTORY

Our history

2011

Rachel Barnard, architecture student at Columbia University, is awarded the Percival & Naomi Goodman Fellowship, a $20,000 annual prize given to a project of "social significance." Rachel's idea—to work at the intersection of art and the criminal legal system

—eventually becomes Young New Yorkers.

Impact

Young New Yorkers not only changes the lives of the young people who get involved in the criminal legal system by offering them a second chance, but they also give a fresh perspective to those prosecuting cases involving these young people. We need community programs like Young New Yorkers that can foster these relationships especially in a time where there is public mistrust in the justice system.