WHAT WE DO
CPNYC provides a uniquely integrated service model, year-round, to meet the distinctive needs of children with incarcerated parents. The organization currently provides comprehensive academic enrichment, mentoring and mental health services in an after-school and summer day camp setting.
Children of Promise, NYC is the only after-school program and summer day camp in New York City specifically designed to meet the needs, interests and concerns of children left behind by parental incarceration.
CPNYC understands that the cycle of intergenerational involvement in the criminal justice system can be broken if social, economic and educational inequities are addressed. Our work begins with the de-stigmatization of parental incarceration, creating an authentic and open environment that is tailored specifically to the needs of our children. We recognize that the strength and resilience of our young people is best measured through their growing belief in the possibilities of their own promise.
WHY WE ARE NEEDED
Over 2 million children in the United States experience the detrimental economic, social and emotional effects of a parent’s incarceration. They often experience the trauma of multiple changes in caregivers, separation from siblings and inconsistent living arrangements. Studies have shown that parental arrest and confinement often lead to stress, trauma, shame and separation anxiety which may be compounded by existing poverty, violence, substance abuse and high crime communities. Many children of incarcerated parents are angry and lash out at others, leading to disruptions in school and confrontations with law enforcement and authority figures.
The U.S. Department of Justice indicates that without intervention, 70 % of these children will follow in the footsteps of their parent(s) and enter into the juvenile and/or adult criminal justice system. This means we can anticipate almost 1.8 million children falling through the cracks, turning to gangs, crime, drugs or entry into criminal or delinquent behaviors.
Children with parents who are incarcerated are an invisible population. While there are more than 105,000 minor children with a parent in the New York State jail and prison systems, there is no information collected on them in a systematic fashion and there are no public policies or government agencies in place to address their needs, neither the police, nor the criminal court system routinely inquires at the time of arrest or at sentencing whether a prisoner has children. Very few social service or community organizations focus specific attention on this large, high needs population.
In Bedford-Stuyvesant, children of incarcerated parents share the challenges and risk factors faced by the larger population of their community, however, these young people are subject to unique stressors and are at greater risk of repeating the cycle of destructive behavior. Traditional after-school programs that offer tutoring, well chaperoned trips and recreational activities often miss the underlying cause of the barriers to success in the lives of children with incarcerated parents. Young people who have lost a parent to prison are dealing with a profound degree of shame, anxiety and sense of powerlessness that is more compounded by the inability to share their feelings or discuss their secret.
