YMI Policies

Accountability

For the first time, under YMI, schools will turn in yearly progress reports on how their black and Latino young men are doing compared to the rest of the students. Teachers and principals can then use this information to help black and Latino youth do better.

Adolescent Preventive Services

YMI is working to keep families together and keep more teens out of foster homes. Making more programs and services available to the whole family at home is the first step towards reaching this goal.

Ban the Box

Executive Order 150 instructs City employers not to ask job-seekers about any criminal convictions during their first interview, or on any preliminary application documents. Job seekers will no longer have to check a box indicating whether they have a criminal record unless they are applying for a job in public safety or working with children.

Increased Access to Family Planning Benefit Program

The Family Planning Benefit Program helps teens get the reproductive health care services they need. YMI is making it easier for teens to use this program by establishing teen-friendly clinics and providing incentives for participants.

Raise The Age

For years, New York was one of the last two states in the United States that treated all youth arrested at age sixteen, no matter how minor the alleged offense, as adults. On October 1, 2017, New York enacted “Raise the Age” legislation ensuring that fewer young people would face prosecution as adults and thereby avoid the collateral consequences of adult prosecution. This injustice unfairly punished youth and prevented them from receiving the services they need to rehabilitate themselves and re-integrate into their communities. New York’s youth who commit non-violent crimes will now receive age-appropriate housing and programming to lower their risk of re-offense.

Removing Obstacles Working Group - Rap Sheet Assistance

A criminal justice history can make it hard for someone to get a job, go back to school, and access other services. Errors on a RAP sheet can make it even harder. Through YMI, a group of community-based organizations will help young people get mistakes on their RAP sheets fixed.

Removing Obstacles Working Group - Voting and Civic Engagement

The right to vote is a powerful tool for making one's voice heard. The Young Men's Initiative supports increasing voting rights outreach and education for young people.

School Discipline

YMI has created a special working group to help change the Discipline Code to make it more responsive to the needs of students. In addition, the Department of Education is working to make sure that even if students are disciplined, they stay connected to the school community. In some schools, special coaches will help students returning from suspensions get back on the right track. In addition, twenty different schools will train teachers to work with the whole school community to prevent suspensions.

Special Education

Many students with special needs learn more and learn better when they study with the rest of the students in their school. The City is helping more schools get special-needs students into the same classrooms as general education students.

Teen Friendly Practices

It is important that teens feel comfortable visiting their doctor. YMI has teamed up with hospitals and young people from all around the City to learn how to encourage teens to see their doctors, and we’ve established a standard that we expect all clinics to follow to become teen friendly.

Teens in NYC: DOHMH

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have created a website with videos and materials as it relates to dealing with peer pressure, bullying, dating violence, depression, and anger. DOHMH also seeks to connect Teens in NYC with services in pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted infections, and LGBTQ services. Below you’ll find two videos from their website.

Youth IDs

An ID can make a lot of things easier for a young person. With an ID, people can get jobs. They can open bank accounts. They can get library cards and access other public benefits. That is why YMI has launched a campaign to tell young people about the benefits of having an ID card and about how to get one.

Transitioned to another agency:

Close to Home

New York City has successfully lobbied for the passage of the Close to Home law, which grants New York City custody of City youth who are currently held in detention facilities upstate. This law ensures that juvenile-justice involved young people will be housed, supervised and served here in New York City, closer to their own communities and to to their families.
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Neighborhood Opportunity Network

Young people on probation are more likely to be successful if they can access opportunities in their own communities. Neighborhood Opportunity Networks (NeONs) will help probationers do just that, instead of having to travel from their neighborhood to see their probation officers. There are currently 7 NeONs and another 7 NeON satellite offices open throughout the city.
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