Dear Community 2022

IntegrateNYC creates space to center youth voices and uplift youth power to galvanize a movement for transformation change. Our mission is to develop youth leaders who repair the harms of segregation and build authentic integration and equity. We are here. Unapologetically demanding that decisions that affect youth need to have youth input. At IntegrateNYC we know that youth are the experts when it comes to addressing their needs and articulating their visions for the future. We are here. Grounded in the 5R framework of real integration that gives the tools to create an equitable school system that students seek.

Now is the time to mobilize for changing systems that harm youth, forcing them to attend schools that feel more like prisons with metal detectors and surveillance rather than spaces of liberatory education. Students don't feel safer with more police presence. Students seek the use of restorative practices to bring in community instead of suspensions and isolation. We are embarking on a campaign to address the issue of Resources and Restorative Justice.

Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks are making over $400 million dollars in cuts to schools, while increasing the number of school safety officers, and decreasing the number of guidance counselors. We want to build genuine restorative school cultures, and funding must reflect restorative values. All of the 5Rs are interdependent, Race and Enrollment, Representation, Relationships, Restorative Justice and of course Resources. There must be a significant reallocation of funds to promote community and care, not policing and punishment.

We are here to listen to young people across the city, across race, language, identity, and ability, and mobilize a movement that brings together marginalized voices. We are here, harnessing the creative energy and endless imagination that youth- powered action will create. We are grounded in our values: We center and support youth to forge an unprecedented journey ahead. We elevate bold youth vision for the future. We honor youth across culture, identity, and ability. We work with restorative practices, unapologetic self love, community care and joy. We lean into the unique expertise present across generations.