What happened in the Big Apple!

City YMCA’s Young Leaders Against Crime Project has just returned from a research visit to New York City. After months of researching and interviewing different agencies, individuals, and projects around the UK, they decided that visiting New York would allow them to gain an international perspective to their two key questions: why do young people get involved in crime and what is being done about it?

The group took with them a member of the Mouth That Roars production studio and were able to interview New Yorkers from various fields including police, courts, Department of Juvenile Justice, youth workers, teachers, anti-violence campaigns, community leaders, councillors, prisoners, as well as young people. Their hopes of discovering new ways to address youth crime were definitely realised and they are enthusiastic to share their findings.

The Young Leaders worked very hard on the project, working most days more than 12 hours - although they were able to have a bit of fun as well (especially during a blizzard which gave New York City more snow than they have ever had in recorded history, and having a snow ball fight with the NYPD).

In the next stage they will be spending the next couple of months at the MTR studio reviewing their footage from 20 sessions they have participated in, deciding on their main message and target audience, and editing their documentary for an expected release date of late June.

For more information on this project please contact theCity YMCA Youth department