Port Richmond responds with community-based ‘Safe Zone’ program plus a ‘Neighborhood Safety Patrol’

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – PORT RICHMOND – An emerging coalition of concerned residents, businesses, nonprofit organizations and civic associations is taking matters of safety on Port Richmond’s streets into its own hands, with close support and cooperation from the NYPD’s 120th Precinct and Council Member Debi Rose (D-North Shore).

Initiatives in the works include a “Safe Zone” program along Port Richmond Avenue, and creation of a self-help Neighborhood Safety Patrol, with Shane Febus, the 120th Precinct’s Crime Prevention Officer, providing hands-on training to the volunteers.

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Councilwoman Debi Rose invites you to celebrate Black History Month

Tomorrow: The College of Staten Island presents the Fourth Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Step Up Speak Out Family Summit

The College of Staten Island presents the Fourth Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Step Up Speak Out Family Summit on Saturday, January 15, 2011.

The event is part of “I am SI,” a Borough-wide effort to combat violence and hatred on Staten Island.

View the event program and the calendar of event.

The purpose of the event is “to educate, empower, enrich, and entertain our youth, families, and communities while teaching the importance of being involved in their community and promoting global citizenship. The Summit will provide an opportunity for youth and families to discuss and create solutions to critical and relevant topics that are plaguing our community, such as violence, self-esteem, family structure, and positive community engagement,” according to the Summit press release.

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Solution Making Summit At Port Richmond High School Hopes To Eradicate Prejudice

Community leaders and students from across Staten Island came together  Thursday for an annual summit to combat bias and promote tolerance.

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The bravery of a young Staten Island hate crime victim.

Did church teach them that it was OK to pick on a helpless special-ed kid whose skin is as dark as theirs? A kid who was told he was a “terrorist” who came to this country to “blow up buildings” before he was told to go back where he came from, which happens to be right here in the United States where he was born? The class punching bag that wouldn’t fight back?

Here’s a school bulletin: When you and your alleged pack of thugs go out of your way to mug, torture and humiliate a helpless kid every day in front of the entire school, you’re the terrorists.

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NY1 Report on Education Meeting

After a rash of hate crimes this summer on Staten Island, educators say they continue to feel the effects of those crimes in their schools and are working hard to identify the cause of the problem. Borough Reporter Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.

Click here to to watch the report on NY1

Educators try to combat bullying

Port Richmond has been relatively quiet of late,but city officials, still recoiling from the 11 alleged bias attacksthat snared their attention over the summer, are determined to continuespreading a message that such crimes won’t be tolerated.

“When I reflect on the summer, I think about how so many people cametogether to make a commitment to make this community a better place,”Ms. Rose said. “I am just very proud of the effort that everyone hasput into turning these unfortunate incidents around into somethingpositive.”

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Staten Island Keeps Eye on Hate Crimes

New York City council speaker Christine Quinn and Staten Island school leaders took the latest step   Friday in a multipart response to the wave of hate crimes that afflicted the borough earlier this year.

On Friday afternoon Quinn met with the principals of five schools in the Port Richmond area, the epicenter of 11 suspected hate crimes on Staten Island’s North Shore between April and August that included an attack on a gay couple at a White Castle restaurant. The attacks predominantly targeted Mexicans and involved African-American suspects. According to Quinn, the purpose of the meeting was to hear from the principals about how their elementary, middle, and high schools had addressed the surge in violence, which appears to have subsided in the borough, but not citywide.

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Anti-Hate posters popping up in Public Schools across the North Shore

Public Schools across the North Shore have actively participated in sending the message of anti-hate and anti-bullying in the new school year. Teaming up with Councilwoman Rose, the I AM Staten Island & the Human Rights Commission, schools have displayed varying versions of the poster you see above. The other posters read: Acabemos Con El Odio, Let’s Erase Hate along with Let’s Erase Bias.