Brooklyn Community Services Hosts “Youth Action Summit: Voices for the Future of Brooklyn” with Top NYC Youth Advocates on February 28

The Brooklyn Community Services “Youth Action Summit” Spotlights concerns of youth living in Brooklyn’s low-income neighborhoods with moderator and keynote: C. Nicole Mason, PhD, Policy Expert and Educator and panelists including: Bill Chong, Commissioner of NYC Youth & Community Development; Marlon Peterson, Criminal Justice Advocate and Kaberi Banerjee Murthy, Brooklyn Community Foundation. There will be a resource hub with 23 Brooklyn youth-based nonprofits with materials and opportunities.

Brooklyn, NY, February 26, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Leading New York City youth advocates will examine critical issues facing at-risk youth in Brooklyn's low-income neighborhoods at Brooklyn Community Services (BCS) Youth Action Summit: Voices for the Future of Brooklyn, a panel discussion and youth action resource hub on February 28 at St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street in Brooklyn from 5:30pm – 8:00pm. It is free to the public and will be broadcast live on BCS Facebook.

This community event will be moderated by C. Nicole Mason, PhD, a noted policy expert, economic justice advocate, educator and author. Mason is Executive Director of the Center for Research and Policy in the Public Interest (CR2PI) at the Washington Area Women's Foundation, lives between Brooklyn and Washington, DC. She is the author of Born Bright: A Young Girl's Journey from Nothing to Something in America and her commentary and writing have been featured in The Nation, Marie Claire, USA Today, ESSENCE, New York Times, Huffington Post, CNN, MSNBC and NPR.

"Given the barriers and challenges faced by young people in low-income communities, strong family, community and school networks are critical to their long-term success and opportunity,” explained Mason. “We should all be working together to ensure that all students have a fair chance at reaching his potential regardless of where the student begins in life."

At the BCS Youth Action Summit, a panel of leading youth advocates will examine impactful strategies and methods that attendees can utilize to support youth initiatives. Topics will focus on pressing problems affecting Brooklyn's at-risk youth, such as: education, self-esteem, job readiness, immigration, police community relations and crime.

The BCS Youth Action Summit will feature an impressive group of panelists who will discuss issues facing young people from underserved neighborhoods, strategies that have been impactful and methods that attendees can utilize to support youth initiatives. The featured panelists include: Bill Chong, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Youth & Community Development; Aber Kawas, Youth Lead Organizer of the Arab American Association of New York; Kaberi Banerjee Murthy, Vice President of Programs at Brooklyn Community Foundation; Dana Edell, PhD, Executive Director of SPARK Movement; Marlon Peterson, a national social and criminal justice advocate and educator who spent 10 years in New York State prisons and Frances DePaolo, student leader at BCS Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service.

There will be a Youth Action Summit resource hub, which features 21 Brooklyn youth-based nonprofits providing information, volunteer and mentorship opportunities and networking to inspire attendees to get involved in activities and programs in their neighborhoods. At the resource hub, nonprofits working on youth issues in Brooklyn will be available for networking. Some of the nonprofits include: Usher's New Look, St. Nicks Alliance, Chinese-American Planning Council Inc., PAL Brownsville Beacon, CAMBA, Made in Brownsville, Children of Promise, NYC, DIGITAL GIRL INC, Per Scholas, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, 826NYC, Housing Works, Repair the World NYC, Reading Partners, viBe Theater Experience, Turning Point Brooklyn and Crown Heights Community Mediation Center.

For 150 years, BCS has been committed to providing resources, tools and support to help low-income youth in Brooklyn reach their personal goals. BCS continues this mission through conducting education, leadership and development programs that empower youth and strengthens Brooklyn neighborhoods.

Today, BCS has several leading youth programs in Brooklyn that focus on education and empowerment for over 2,000 young people, these include: Gary Klinsky Children's Centers After School Programs, BCS Cornerstone Community Centers, Youth Stand United, Youth Stand Academy and the BCS Brooklyn High School for Leadership & Community Service.

For more information on the BCS Youth Action Summit, please check wearebcs.org/youth-summit. Join the conversation with Brooklyn Community Services on Facebook and also connect on Twitter and Instagram at @wearebcs.
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Brooklyn Community Services
Fern Gillespie
917-334-9298
www.wearebcs.org
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