{"id":263320,"date":"2026-06-11T16:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/263320\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:16:11","slug":"students-take-the-lead-in-brooklyn-das-youth-summit-on-conflict-and-growth-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/263320\/","title":{"rendered":"Students take the lead in Brooklyn DA\u2019s Youth Summit on conflict and growth \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

In partnership with College Now, a free CUNY dual-enrollment program that allows New York City high school students to earn college credits before graduation, the Kings County District Attorney\u2019s Office (KCDA) hosted its fourth annual Youth Summit on June 4 at New York City College of Technology in downtown Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

For the first time since its inception, the summit, titled \u201cWhere Are You? A GPS Roadmap for Your Life,\u201d was entirely youth-led. Nine KCDA youth ambassadors coordinated the forum from conception through planning and execution.<\/p>\n

Lawrence Washington, director of KCDA\u2019s multimedia department, said the summit was the culmination of eight months of collaboration during which participants identified the root causes of verbal and physical conflicts based on their lived experiences and developed de-escalation tools and techniques.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came together once a month and talked about what they wanted to create a workshop about, and as they were creating that, we thought, \u2018Why don\u2019t we let them be the people who are leading the youth summit?\u201d Washington told Brooklyn Paper. \u201cWe do this youth summit every year, and while it\u2019s great for young people to hear from adults, what better way than for them to bring this work that they\u2019ve been working on and what they\u2019ve been creating to other young people?\u201d<\/p>\n

The youth ambassadors \u2014 Massaigur Gordon-Browne, Savannah Parks, Cameron Harper, Henry Solmo-Brewer, Asil Ravshanov, Madison Powers, Mary Lanier, Amiyah Greenidge-Best and Mahnoor Ahmed \u2014 said the summit\u2019s workshops focused on social-emotional learning and conflict resolution.<\/p>\n

They said the youth-led format encouraged peers to share lived experiences and explore pathways for personal growth and leadership during breakout sessions focused on navigating life\u2019s challenges and building foundations for mental, physical and spiritual well-being.<\/p>\n

\"\"Youth ambassadors from the Kings County District Attorney\u2019s Office lead workshops during the fourth annual Youth Summit on June 4 at New York City College of Technology in Downtown Brooklyn.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the students to feel vulnerable, and we want them to be truthful, that\u2019s the whole idea of there being youth leading the youth, is allowing them to have that safe space,\u201d Mahnoor Ahmed, a freshman at Brooklyn College, said. \u201cJust having that space where they feel comfortable, because it\u2019s not always comfortable to talk to adults, it may be intimidating, so that\u2019s kind of where we come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventeen-year-old Mary Lanier said the brainstorming sessions also helped youth ambassadors develop their own tools for navigating challenges.\n<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] also kind of found ourselves and kind of understood how we can navigate this and how we can find our own tools, and I think that\u2019s why it\u2019s so impactful that we are youth teaching youth, because we\u2019ve had to work through this ourselves,\u201d Mary said. \u201cSo I think that vulnerability that hopefully we can really find today is what will make this impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n

One strategy young people can use is stepping back when tensions are high, Cameron Harper said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important when you feel like tensions are high with someone, and like a conflict is going to escalate, I think taking a step back from the situation, or having a clear mind, is very important, because you want to be rational so that the conflict doesn\u2019t escalate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Participants engage in group activities aimed at building communication and de-escalation skills during the Youth Summit at New York City College of Technology.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"The summit\u2019s workshops focused on social-emotional learning and conflict resolution.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Leslie \u201cButtaflysoul\u201d Taylor, a trainer and curriculum coordinator for Momentum Education Teen Basic whose work focuses on social and emotional learning, partnered with KCDA to support the youth ambassadors in developing the summit\u2019s curriculum.<\/p>\n

Taylor told Brooklyn Paper that through the process he learned the importance of honoring every voice and giving people time to process.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always fun when the people in the room respect each other, right? Like it\u2019s something about when humanity is with humanity, there\u2019s not a whole lot of need, a whole lot of need to negotiate. We\u2019re out, we\u2019re actually just together navigating this road map called life together. I never stand in front of young people thinking I\u2019m the authority; I always show up as the student,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

The Youth Summit is part of the Kings County District Attorney\u2019s Office youth initiative, which provides internships, leadership development, anti-bullying education, career exploration and violence prevention efforts.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez emphasized the importance of youth engagement through initiatives such as the Youth Ambassador Program, encouraging young people to achieve collective success.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said youth engagement encourages young people to achieve collective success.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure that public safety is a lot about not just enforcement, but prevention, and this is the greatest age group to talk to, making sure that they feel supported,\u201d Gonzalez told Brooklyn Paper, noting that it was as important to listen to the concerns of young people as adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to keep our city safe, listening to what young people tell us are their priorities and what they feel they need to feel safe, and also how to keep them out of trouble, and when you keep young people engaged, and you keep them motivated, and you give them something to shoot for,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cWhen you put these supports in place [for] young people, especially when they\u2019re in high school, it gives them the encouragement to think that they can achieve something, and they can go to college.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In partnership with College Now, a free CUNY dual-enrollment program that allows New York City high school students…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,21314,100,99,102093,102094,67091,102095,9,24,102096,12,370,63,102097,102098,102099],"class_list":["post-263320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-district-attorney-eric-gonzalez","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-brooklyn-das-office","tag-college-now","tag-kings-county-district-attorneys-office","tag-momentum-education-teen-basic","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-college-of-technology","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-youth-ambassador-program","tag-youth-initiative","tag-youth-summit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}