In all five boroughs, as well as the defenders' offices and various judges who refer young people who come into their courtroom directly into Exalt.

One of the things that we like to say is that we operate as an apolitical organization, and so that has allowed us the ability to build partnerships with individuals who often stand on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the criminal justice system and criminal justice reform.

After 2017, we of course expanded our referral pipeline to include various CBOs and nonprofits, community organizations that all refer young people directly into Exalt.

So once a young person is referred to Exalt, I should make mention that we are not a court mandated program in that it is a volunteer program.

So while judges and uh attorneys will refer into our program, we do have an extensive assessment process, and young people have to opt into the change that Exalt is offering.

Um this is largely because we recognize that getting any person to do something is always easier when they are uh their own advocate for going into that program.

Um and so our assessment process is exhaustive and lasts roughly about three weeks.

Um and so it concing a variety of different assessments, including our educational assessment, which looks at where the young person is in their educational trajectory, as well as a criminal justice assessment for us to get a better sense of how to support that young person, particularly if they have an open case with their criminal justice involvement, as well as a candidate assessment and resource assessment, which are looking holistically at the different levels of support and the different level of resources that young people may need for us to make sure that we build really an ecosystem around them to support them in all the different areas that they may uh need focus on that isn't come that doesn't come directly within the purview of what Exalt does.

Um, once a young person is assessed and interviewed and deemed to be a fit for the program, they are offered an acceptance.

Um we use very intentional language with our model and our assessment process.

As we know, most young people that are uh connected to the criminal justice system don't often have positive reinforcement language that is given to them.

And so we make sure that we're using language such as you've been selected because of your amazing potential.

Um you've been selected because we recognize that you have the great potential for greatness.

Um and so then our young people have to accept the acceptance.

Uh once they are entering into our program, they then enter into our pre-internship phase.

Uh, this pre-internship phase serves a dual purpose.

One to reconnect them to their love of learning and their thirst for education, and then also to prepare them for the internship phase by uh starting to build on their foundational professional development skills.

In terms of the former, one of the things that we've learned over the course of the 20 years is that young people don't lack for a love of learning, they lack for a love of learning in some of the institutions they are forced to learn in.

Um without getting into a diatribe or on public education, um, our young people uh come to us uh really eager to have discussions and uh interactions that are talking about different topics that are directly related to their lived experiences, something that they often don't get within their public education system.

And so our curriculum, which has been rigorously researched, is both culturally relevant and culturally responsive, for the first time in many of our young people's lives uh are curating discussions uh around things that our young people have some very keen opinions on but haven't necessarily had the form to have these conversations.

So we're discussing things such as uh school to prison pipeline, mass incarceration, um, gang culture, excuse me, um, toxic masculinity, and a variety of other topics which then reinvigorate our young people's love of discussion.

What we've seen is that spark of learning from many of our young people come back and have profound effects on the way they interact with their own school environments, which haven't changed, but our young people's perspective on what education and schooling is has.

And so we start to see and have seen drastic improvements in both their school performance as well as their attendance.

Running parallel to that council is uh our support of our young people in development of their professional skills.

Um, our young people come to us having no prior work experience, which is a requirement of our program.

Um, and so what we try to do is to build on their professional skills, uh, really in a way that we prepare them for the internship uh with some foundational skills that I think we take for granted, or individuals that have professional networks that can teach them these skills from early that we sometimes don't think about how important they are.

So we're doing things like resume building, um, cover letter building, uh, professional dress, um, how to time manage all of these different elements, uh, which as I said prepare them for their internship phase.

Our internship phase has been a foundational um principle of our program model for our 20 years.

And so what we do is we place young people in eight-week long internships, paid internships, at a variety of different high yield, high sector jobs across New York City.

Um of the things that I should also mention that is really important and integral as we think about economic mobility for not only our young people, but also for this model in Syracuse, uh, is that we've also always paid above the minimum wage.

And so our young people beginning in week three begin to get paid $18 an hour over the course of their duration in the program.

Um I should mention also that a key part of this is that we do not ask any of the 150 internship partners that we currently have to directly pay our interns.

We fundraise every dollar that we pay our young people through our internship program.

This isn't we raise the money, yes.

As I'm looking at this, we're getting 1.5 million, correct?

Yes.

And I'm looking at the staffing and it's really kind of five heavy.

So I was just wondering about that 1.5 to cover all of that.

Yeah, so one of the things that I should mention, counsel also not only in that 1.5, we also have private and philanthropic um support for the Syracuse replication that is also going to support not only our staffing model, but also for our stipends as well.

Um our rent, of course, for our location here.

Um, and so while the DCJS money is a large amount of the money that is being given for the Syracuse replication, we also through our model have also private and other support for the replication as well.

So you already have those philosophical people lined up.

Yes, we do.

So we have roughly about, including the DCA DCJS grant, roughly about 2.1 million dollars in committed funds for the Syracuse replication.

And are those um entities local, or is that um individuals you've already had um contacts with the New York City organization?

Great Crushing Council.

So we don't want to like pull from organizations that are already doing the work here and double dip in.

Great question.

So it's not yes, it's uh relationships that we've built outside.

And so we have, for instance, a national nonprofit, uh, the Youth Hope Foundation, which has been a supporter of not only ours in New York City with our replication and scaling to the five boroughs, but also is very interested in supporting the replication in Syracuse.

We also have the Schultz Family Foundation, which is connected to Starbucks.

Um, and so this has always been council uh our uh funding structure for Exalt is to have a diversified funding structure that leans on corporations, government, as well as the philanthropic and private community, and it is a financial ecosystem that we are replicating here in Syracuse.

Are we should we be worried about the Schultz Foundation?

We should not be worried about the social foundation.

All right.

I have one more question.

Of course.

This is not on the financial end, but I'm looking at the structure of the way it's set up.

So it says you're gonna take in 10 from October to November.

And then from January, you do 10 more.

So at any point, do all 10 all of these 65 people come together or are they still great question, counselor.

So we're looking to do it in five cycles.

I should also say the way that our program is structured.

So we call them not classes but cycles.

Um and so we have launched in New York City when launching cycles all year round.

Um that same structure will be in Syracuse.

So there's 65 young people will be spread over five different cycles.

So if you look at the breakdown, it's going to be for the five cycles, tend to start for the first two and then increasing to 15, 15, 15.

Are they ever gonna come together?

So what we will do for the first, most likely three cycles is start one cycle when the other cycle ends.

Uh Syracuse replication is uh a pilot version, and so it will be a shorter program model than our New York City for this first year.

This is intentional.

Um we recognize that Syracuse is a very different ecosystem than New York City, and so we want to be able to not only begin to serve the young people of Syracuse, but also begin to learn about Syracuse and the different areas that we need to have really in our purview to make sure that we're doing this correctly.

Um the idea is counselor to get to our full four and a half month model, but for these first five cycles, as one ends, we will start the other one.

And I know you're working closely with Pastor Latif.

So the 10 youth that you're gonna take in, they're referred to you.

Yes.

So talk a little bit about our referral process and what we've done so far.

So we really want to lean on for our referrals directly the judiciary of Syracuse.

Um we've actually built a really strong partnership starting off with the Department of Probations, who we have been meeting with since the start of this replication effort, which to let everyone know, has been had implementation parts of it for the last three years, led by our CEO, Dr.

Giselle Castro.

We've also been making inroads with the judges that service the youth in Syracuse, specifically the honorable judge Cecil, um, who is actually convening a group of the attorneys in Syracuse as well as some of the DAs for uh meeting to present Exalt on 1118.

So one more one before I one more quickie.

I'm reading here.

You have to escort them to the bathroom.

So what we do to answer that question, we always again want to make sure that we recognize that we're dealing with young people that are at different phases of their change and transition.

Um it isn't a four and a half month program, counselor, and so when people young people come into us, they are very different than when they leave um four and a half months later.

And so for the start, as we're getting to know them, as well as they're getting to go in their process of change.

There is a high level of oversight also.

Um we're also recognizing as this is the committee of public safety, just like New York City, we are responsible for the public safety um as judges in the judiciary refer directly to us.

And so as they're going along the stages of changes, we do want to have a level of oversight with them to support them through along their trajectory.

I will say that who they are at the end is not who they are at the beginning.

Um, and that is all of the process over the four and a half months.

So um so are all these people already.

I mean, we haven't approved this yet, but I mean a program manager, administrative assistant, teacher, program court, court like they've already been identified.

Great question, counsel.

So they have not.

Um, and so the initial launch cycle will be staffed by our program leadership team, including myself, um, for these first one to two cycles.

Uh, there's a particular reason for this.

Um, so number one, we recognize that this program model uh it does take a while to learn.

Um it is a very uh dense program model in our ethos and the way that we operate with youth development, and we want to do that responsibly.

Um so we believe that having the individuals that know this model the best, um, including myself and the rest of our program leadership team, are the best ones to implement to start off.

I say that to say that we are beginning the process of identifying the talent to actually have hired for the Syracuse model.

Um, this will unequivocally be a for Syracuse by Syracuse endeavor.

We just want to make sure we're engaging that responsibly.

Um so one of the things we've already started doing is meeting with some of the career services departments at the local colleges.

We had a great meeting with Lemorine College last week, as well as SUNY um Onendaga, and so we will be looking at some of the career services departments to identify talent as well as connecting with the different CBOs and individuals in the community who may know individuals who would be a great fit for this model and have a talent for youth development and service.

Okay, and where are you based at where you're gonna be based out of?

So we're currently looking at space.

We were looking at space last week.

Uh it is looking as of right now as the Syracuse EOC location will be where we're looking to house a co-location with the idea of when the model does expand and we go to our full model where we'll have a permanent space.

Syracuse EOC represents a great location because they also have a built-in workforce development programs that are in there that we do want to be able to funnel our young alumni into once they are finished with the core program.

And do you do you know have a timeline that you think you will be in a permanent space?

Although you know that does work.

I'm just more concerned about some of the issues that we have.

It's clear territorial.

Yeah, not a definitive timeline right now.

I think our more important um focus right now is one, continuing to get a better understanding of the Syracuse community by replicating small and starting off small.

Um, the full model again, once we feel comfortable that we've been integrated into the Syracuse community enough and built up an ecosystem with the different parties that are going to play a big role in that.

I think that's when we will definitely consider permanent location.

So you said you said um that you you you you give referral, right?

Um and the judge would uh going through our conversation before, the judge would refer a child, you know, at this point a you know, young adult in the sense, right?

We'll refer these young adults to you.

Yes.

And what have you they say no?

The young adult?

Yes.

Yeah, so we have that happen at times in New York, as we said, we're a volunteer program.

We will then go back to the judge and say that we do not feel that exalt is the right fit for the young person at this point.

What we have done in the past is also, and this is why building the ecosystem of collaboration is so important.

We will often recommend other programs that we have a partnership with that we feel may be a better fit for that young person.

Um, and so uh councilman, to really get to the depth of your question, we don't leave even the young people that are referred to us that may not be a right fit for the program out to flail in the wind.

We often try to give the judges or the referring parties some different organizations that we work with that we feel may be a benefit for that young person.

Because I I do know I do know that here, you know, we may not have all the resources we need in our community here.

But there are those spaces where you know these young people could also benefit.

But some of the barriers is that, you know, some of them don't want to, you know, there may not be an infrastructure or at least a way for them to go there.

Yeah, you know, but there's there's there's help.

Some of them don't want to take it.

Absolutely.

And I I do want to stress to the council that we are coming into Syracuse really in the spirit of collaboration, um, and really in the spirit to those organizations that you're speaking about, getting to know them, getting to know their leadership, and also working with them to support the youth of Syracuse as a whole.

Um, you know, we have a very specific, we like to say lane that we fall into, which is serving young people who are directly impacted by the criminal justice system.

But those young people have a plethora of different resources that they need to be successful.

Um we purposely do not try as an organization to be a jack of many trades, a master of none.

And so we recognize that the different resources, whether they be food insecurities, housing insecurities, those other things, that there are other organizations not only in New York but Syracuse that focus on that and do that well.

And so we want to build that collaborative spirit with those organizations to refer our young people if they're not a fit or if they need different resources that we don't necessarily provide.

So if if a 15-year-old is referred by a judge, for example, because you deal with 15 to 19 year olds.

If a 15-year-old is referred to you by a judge, and they somehow don't want to take it, obviously it's 15 years old.

How do you how do you go about that?

Because a 15-year-old really is it's a minor, right?

And there's gotta be some you know, guardian or somebody over how do you involve guardians?

That's a great question.

So, regardless of whether they're 15 or 19, it is still the young person's choice.

Um, we are very youth driven, and so again, we recognize that getting an adult to commit to four and a half months is difficult, let alone a teenager.

And so while we do recognize, of course, that minors, we do not want anyone going through our program who is forced to be in here because it will absolutely impact not only their commitment, but also the outcomes that they have for the program.

The program is intensive.

Um, you know, we're placing young people and we've already identified some pretty high-level internship partners in the Syracuse community that have agreed to come on.

We want to make sure that those young people are born into that process.

Martin, you mind if I go?

Yes, thanks.

Um, Jason, wanted to talk about the evaluative components.

When we look at the deliverables and the performance measures here, they're fairly general.

They talk about more of your evidence of effort rather than your impact.

So thinking about impact, both at the individual level and the organizational level, you know, what does it look like, feel like, sound like, and how do you know that the model that you've been implementing with success in New York will be relevant here.

What are your you know triggers for for some type of change in model?

You know, of course, correction if Syracuse is different from New York.

So I think first and foremost, looking at our court advocacy outcomes, which I think are the foundation of when we think about how this is changing the trajectory of young people's lives.

Um historically, as I said, we have 65% of our young people that come to our program with open cases.

75% of those young people historically have had their cases either dismissed or reduced.

Um, I think as we all know, having criminal justice involvement has exponentially negative effects for a young person's trajectory in the not only education field, but also with their housing and their job prospects.

So, in a lot of ways, I think council members, we think about that as one of our major outcomes.

We talk about this really giving our young people their life back.

Um, I think the other part is when we think about the contribution that we're making to young people experience a level of economic mobility.

Um and so our young people, again, as we pay them $18 an hour, not only are they getting a chance to gain economic mobility legally, um, they're also getting increased exposure to fields and sectors that they may be interested in in entering into their career fields and also building valuable networks to be able to support them regardless of what their post-secondary tract is.

Um, as we all know, your network is your net worth.

Um, and so our young people often are coming from communities where they do not have the ability to build strong networks that will support them either with their educational professional journey.

Exalt gives them that um and also gives them the employability skills to be able to utilize past their involvement with Exalt.

I didn't get to mention the alumni program as well as we talk about success metrics, but one of the key things that we do in our alumni program is really support them with their post-secondary tract.

Um, and we say post-secondary track intentionally, in that we're not a college robust program.

And so our outcomes for our alumni program are measured uh whether our young people choose to go through college and we support them in that, not only with their college readiness, but also with scholarships, as well as free college tours, free college visits, application support, but also with their workforce development, uh, which actually gets them into the workforce earning money building on their economic mobility that they had in their internship program.

I should say from an evaluations perspective, we plan very keenly to have this model rigorously evaluated after the first year.

We've identified MDRC, which is a national recognized evaluation firm to do the evaluation after the first year to not only assess our effectiveness within the Syracuse community, but also what it looks like to uh sustain and expand within Syracuse to our full model.

And in terms of that long-term outcome, do you have longitudinal data or cohort data from New York?

And how long do you try to follow participants?

And I can share, we can share some of those studies with this council.

Absolutely.

One of the key studies that was done was through NYU's Metro Center, um, and also Dr.

David Kirkland, which is actually council member, one of the reasons why from that study that we were able to expand from Brooklyn to the five boroughs, um, in which we work with DAs at all five boroughs.

And as far as um uh urine profitable one C3, okay.

Yes.

I have a question.

Sure.

Um the court advocacy component and for sense reduction of vacated cases, and what situations would these qualify, and what type of can you you engage what type of crimes or they may commit.

Absolutely.

So the only uh crimes in New York City, which and will also be replicated in Syracuse that we don't serve that young people have are arson, sexual offenses, or murder.

Um these cases, one are often not referred by judges for youthful offender status or um yes, for sentence reduction, but all other cases and all other charges we do support.

So you have to look at each case.

Yes, individually.

Okay, thank you.

Go ahead.

Just another question.

I want to kind of piggyback off of Counselor Rouser.

Um when she talked about the families, because we know that we can take these young people, we can have them all day, we can give them the best outcome available under your guidance, but they go back into the same household.

So what do we do with that?

So that's a great question, counselor.

Um, as I said, I should reiterate earlier that we want this to be youth driven.

We recognize exactly to your point and Councilmember Rouse's point that the families can sometimes be an impedis um to a young person's advancement in that, and I have had experience working in two gen programs.

Um, one of the things that I know I found in my career is that when you service both family and student, you end up spending more time servicing the family than you do the young person.

Um we again want to recognize that our worth is youth focused and youth-driven, um, which is also another reason why, and I know we talked to the council member last week, we don't service younger students because the younger we go, the more that is uh parent-driven.

So we do involve the parents in terms, particularly for young people that are 18 years old or younger, when we're doing the actual intake and assessment process and letting them know what the program is.

Of course, they have to sign consent forms.

Um, but again, we don't have any necessarily active services within our program model that directly service the family.

Um, and we do believe that part of that is it would compromise the amount of resources and ability we have to directly service the youth.

I will say that in New York City, our program coordinators who are responsible for interviewing and the assessment of the young people, where they can in that initial phase, we do try to involve parents in them understanding the program.

Um, and of course, the young people's parents and families are invited to our graduations, but we do not directly provide any supports to the families.

Um, but we do believe again that our work with the young people does impact the overall family dynamic.

Again, we're paying young people $18 an hour.

So what they choose to do with that money, whether it's contributing to the home and the overall economic ability of the home does help.

Um, but again, uh from my experience, two generational program approaches often lead to the program focusing more on the family than the actual youth.

I get that, but if I come from uh not to be, you know, from a drug addicted family, yeah, and then I go back home and my mother doing drugs when I go home, everything you gave me from the earlier part of that day is wiped out.

We understand, we understand that.

Um, again, I think in that type of situation, what we would do, particularly if the young person is coming to us and saying that this is affecting their ability to come to the program.

If there are programs that we do have within our collaborative nature of resources that do focus on that, we will give them those referrals to be potentially address some of those issues in the home.

Um, and that is the way that we we we deal with that type of situation.

Again, we don't want to be an organization that tries to do too many things.

Uh, what we have proven to be good at in these 20 years is preparing young people for the workforce and getting them reinconnected to their educational outcomes.

And I think the I think the start of it is like what you said earlier is with the lived experience.

Yes.

Because just having the ability for youth to have open communication is absolutely key in, you know, being able to express and talk about the things that they're dealing with.

I had a program at my church that I met with young young girls, and um at one point I had to take a sabbatical.

And uh parents were actually calling me.

Like you you have to get back to this program.

Like the kids are requesting it.

So I do think that if you give them an outlet, they'll open up more.

Absolutely.

And then things can shift.

I've I'm very familiar with the program.

I've been down to New York City.

Um Sam has been a huge supporter of our multiple uh conversations with Giselle.

Um so I I do, I mean, I so I I might be a little bit more ahead of uh than the what you guys do than the other counselors, but um I do think it's a wonderful program.

I've seen the youth, I've talked to the I didn't talk to the youth, the youth talked to me.

Um and that is that's the best thing about it that they approached the adults, they were the ones coming up and speaking, and they were you know open to forming new relationships.

Yes.

And so that was a very like key point that I was like, oh, this is wonderful because you have so many kids that are shut down and and kind of introvert because of their home situations.

Absolutely.

Um and I that's also one of our four tenants that we work on them with is communication.

Um communication, resource management, critical thinking and problem solving skills, which we believe uh through our curriculum, if we can get our young people to improve uh and really focus on these four skills, regardless of what path they want to take through their high school or post-secondary careers, uh, these are skills that which would be foundational to their success.

And so I've also had the opportunity to s to speak with um, I think it was like two or three of the judges that you guys work with down there, and they had nothing but praises.

You know, they were long-term um, they were you know judges that have been with you guys for a very long time.

Yes.

So, and I this question is was the understanding that you don't get involved a lot with I'm sorry, with uh with issues that that you know may stretch you, for example.

Um but here in Syracuse with young people, uh it's is shameful for us to admit, but here we have young people that are homeless.

Yes.

You know, and then we we know that once those young people get into homelessness, a whole bunch of other things happen.

So I don't know if a a judge, if it if other things do happen to a point that a judge has to refer them to you, and they're still homeless.

What do you do?

Yeah, so unfortunately, housing affordability is something that is afflicting, I think, all places right now.

Um it is something that we're dealing with in New York.

Um, and what we have done is try to really pinpoint organizations that as best they can are working to support whether it's temporary shelter housing, um, and other resources such as the door exponents, single stop, and these are some organizations in New York that kind of service these issues.

We want to continue to learn who in Syracuse is potentially supporting and doing that well.

Um and so I would say, councilman, that our big thing, particularly for this first year is really learning what some of those issues are, as you're saying, and learning the organizations that we can partner and collaborate with where we can tell a judge, you know, this young person is experiencing homelessness, we have a direct referral to such and such organization.

They're currently working with them, whether it's being for temporary housing or shelter housing.

Um that's really part of our job is not only servicing the young people, but also what does that ecosystem of support look like.

I want to comment that many young people who might have commit a crime are in desperation.

They're homeless, they are hungry.

If you come in my common council district, you'll see young people committing acts of prostitution, drug abuse, and it's sentencing out in the public.

I don't want them live a life for crime.

We have to reach out and we have to help them though.

So it's it's it's within our own eyes, we see this uh a lot.

So uh it's not like the days before when a parent had uh try to uh hire a lawyer to get the child out of prison or out of jail.

Uh we have to help these young children.

Uh we do have a crisis in our schools.

We have a crisis in our streets.

So it's important that you and exhaust really reach out to help these young people.

And I would personally suggest to reach out onto the streets, walk the streets, and reach out to help them.

Thank you.

No, absolutely.

And and we recognize most crimes are crimes, a lot of crimes are crimes of desperation, um, which is why our pay rate has always been above the minimum wage and significantly.

I mean, I don't know how many people here remember their first job.

My first job was not $18 an hour.

Um, and I should also mention in our alumni program, we also offer internships as well, and it's actually $20 an hour.

Um, and this is why we also start paying them.

Uh they start accruing pay in week two, because we recognize committing to this after school.

Unfortunately, Councilman, to your point, young people will find things to do after school sometimes to make money.

Um, and so we want to make sure that they the um financial considerations that unfortunately a lot of our young people have does not serve in direct uh conflict to them actually attending the program and growing, which is why we don't wait until the internship phase, we start almost immediately with their program with having them accrue eighteen dollars an hour with their participation.

We have great programs, Kelly's Touch, Devin's Rec Room, we have it on Northside.

Those are great programs that's fantastic to know.

And why you know it.

What's your fall-off rate?

Have you had what's your fall-off rate?

Oh, great question.

So we have a 70% retention rate um in our New York City uh location.

Um, and so very proud of that retention rate.

Uh again, stressing that this is over four and a half months, and so we're able to retain 70% of our young people through four and a half months with our program.

What are some of the issues that relate to falling out of a yeah, great question again?

And so one, I think as we talk about the commitment.

I think sometimes young people can underestimate uh how much it is to commit to that at that specific time.

Um I think the other thing is everything that this council has intimated.

There are a lot of different elements that go into young people that are afflicted by poverty.

Um, and also the fact that this is a voluntary program.

And so young people have to be committed for those four and a half months, you know, and unfortunately, it is sometimes uh uh an issue where the commitment was sometimes overstated, and it's other things that life and all of the things that go with poverty uh sometimes prevent them from taking advantage for the four and a half months.

So they're like evaluated and assessed in the beginning.

I would see I'd like to see that what the curriculum is.

Absolutely.

We can absolutely share.

You know, I mean, is it like a personal thing?

This child has an issue with some particular problem and I mean do you plug in with the social workers in the schools and all that because they have a wealth of information usually.

Yeah, so the assessments uh are really filling into what we call IPPs, and I believe it's on there, which is individualized performance plans.

Um and so each student through the assessments through the work of our program coordinators, our teachers, and the six staff members that are involved with the young person, create a specific plan that tracks what that level of support will look like for that young person during not only the duration of their time in the core program, but also another IPP done for their alumni program support.

Um I'm more than happy to share with you, as we said, the evaluation of the curriculum and the curriculum elements as well as the assessments that we do as well.

And you pay them to go to this program, correct?

Excuse me.

I said you pay each child to go to be there every single day, right?

We pay each child for their participation, yeah.

And Jenna, I'm correct.

No local match on this.

It's the 1.5.

Yep.

Great.

So um say this is the so this is a pilot program.

Yes.

Say December 1st come 2026, then what?

Great.

So this is a sustainability question, um, which is amazing question.

And so we have always built the organization on not only sustainable sustainability, but also building for financial um reserve to be able to expand as well.

Um and so all of our financial support in New York City has been spread out over government, corporate, individual, and then philanthropic uh support, which is done intentionally, Councilman.

Um as we know, when you depend on one source, if that source goes another direction, it it really creates a difficulty with financial viability.

Um and so for New York City, we've been very lucky to have some some giants that have supported us.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the McKenzie Scott, we were the recipient of the McKenzie Scott Grant, Tiger Foundation, as well as Pinkerton Foundation and Robin Hood.

Um, that same ecosystem that supported us with scalability from Brooklyn to the five boroughs, uh, is what we're trying to build here in New York.

And so all of the support that we have besides DCJS also renewable grants, um, one-year renewable grants, and so we have had an incredible success record with our renewed grants um and also with obtaining multi-year grants.

Uh Dr.

Castler was also uh master fundraiser and is actively even fundraising now, uh, connecting with some different foundations such as the Allen Foundation for increased support moving forward.

Um, I should also mention that we have a reserve that is also supported us in New York.

And so we not only fundraise for sustainability, but also for in case anything happens in the world, that we have the ability to be able to sustain the organization.

Uh I should mention also during COVID that this financial strategy allowed us not only to survive while many nonprofits faltered, but also to expand, as in we expanded to a bigger location in downtown Manhattan at the uh beginning of COVID um because of our fiscal responsibility and understanding of the dynamic of running a nonprofit.

How many kids have gone through this?

Um I can get your exact number over the 20 years.

Um I will say last year specifically we serviced 434 and then 499 in our alumni program.

And to President Hudson's point, uh what was the reciprocity rate?

Would you say like kids trapping out of the program?

Yeah, so we have a 70% retention rate.

Um, yes.

How did you identify Syracuse rather than any of the other upstate cities?

Great question.

So this actually came um get a good question.

I just got a good question, and I even got a good question.

That's my father.

Great questions while we're thank you very much.

So Syracuse, this was in partnership of of course with DCJS um in identifying um the upstate cities that were most in need and really having a specific support area for youth impacted by juvenile justice.

Um in our discussions, it was Syracuse and Utica.

Um, and so in conversations with Dr.

Castro and uh Commissioner Rosanna Rosado, it became uh very clear and requested actually that the support be provided to Syracuse because of some of the issues with juvenile justice of city is experiencing, and also this specific gap with serving this specific youth with nonprofits.

Um and so as as I said, this has been a three-year uh plan and work that we've been working on, um, and thrilled to come in and be able to provide that support to Syracuse in what seems to be a very dire need.

And piggybacking on that statement, um, I know you're working, you know, hand in hand with Latif with Safer Streets and you're partnering with um OEC, not OEC, EOC, or um we do have an OEC.

ELC for uh the uh job portion.

But um in conversations throughout the year of of this talks, there are organizations who do feel a little threatened um by you know you guys come in.

How are you attempting to um ease those tensions and make sure that there are some collaborations within um those other organizations that serve some of those same uh population?

So Syracuse has some amazing nonprofits, as I think is the council is intimated.

Um and so I think as we come into this community, it's one also learning from these nonprofits that have been here historically, I think is the first thing.

We don't come in thinking that we know Syracuse well enough uh to launch our full pilot initially.

And so as I like to say, you know what you know, you don't know what you don't know.

And the nonprofits that have been operating here have some very valuable institutional knowledge.

So I think it's one connecting with organizations like Project Rise.

We just had a great meeting with them last week with organizations um Teef with you as well, um, with individuals that have been doing this work and doing it well.

Um I think, you know, I come, I don't know how many of you are familiar with Harlem Children's Zone down in New York City, but I come from that organization that, as we all know, promised neighborhoods and a mass replication project.

Um and one of the most important things with replication is also understanding that every ecosystem is different and that you want to learn from the people who have been in that ecosystem first and foremost.

Um I think the other thing is really identifying the services that these organizations provide that can support also in our work.

Um, you know, many of these organizations are working with the same young people.

And so that's what I was gonna also say is their overlap between who the court may recommend and who may already be in these programs that they may say like it may be better to you know push them this way um so that we can work with someone else.

Yes, I think there doesn't have to be that level of competition.

I think as we said, our organization is very focused on workforce and working with young people who are criminal justice impacted.

And I think this is part of the reason why we do our resource management assessment with our young people is to find out what other organizations and entities do you have that you're working with.

Um we have uh extensive collaborative approaches, whether it's be through progress notes uh in New York City, which we will replicate here to also consistently communicating with referral partners and referring out.

Um and one of the things we talk about is if five of us are working with the same young person, each person can play their role, and if that young person has great outcomes that is beneficial to all individuals that are involved.

Um so we really want to stress, and I want to stress as the chief program officer, uh, is the spirit of collaboration with the Syracuse community to learn from them and to also work with the young people in a way that doesn't clash, but is in fact uh informing their own trajectory to success.

Well, we don't want each organization work, five organizations work with one kid because we want to be able to reach more kids.

Yes.

So um just me, make sure that don't happen.

I have a question is Deputy Mayor, this one I need from you, because um pending the success of Exalt, will there be after the pilot, do you foresee there being a 26, 27 budget ask?

Of the council?

No, I don't.

I uh to the point of um DCGS committed to Exalt, they fund them in New York City, they fund them to be here in Syracuse.

Um they also have, as he mentioned, a large philanthropic arm.

Um I made it clear to DCJS that the city did not have money to fund this initiative.

Um so moving into the budget area, I do not expect that.

That said, it would be up to the council if I come back and say, uh, I might need we may need this or that.

We we really are they're just gonna get started here as we go into um January or almost now, December.

Um I have to tell you, uh completely the first thing they did um was come to the Syracuse for two days.

And we were over at One Park Place.

Uh the large conference room was full of all of the not-for-profits, police.

They have been meeting with Judge Cecil and our juvenile justice partners, probation, they have been doing that repeatedly by via Zoom or in in town.

So they are really engaging in a network of individuals to know how the systems work here and how they can move in to provide.

And I've said before, um, sometimes we um find ourselves in mission creep.

It's important that their program it keeps the main thing the main thing, and that is adjudicated root youth in those systems, ensuring that we're providing the service.

Um, I don't anticipate coming to the council, definitely for this new budget season, but the next budget season, we'll see how the funding is gonna go.

We don't know how New York State is gonna be able to fund anything in this, you know, this next fiscal year, they're gonna be meeting their own problems.

So they're gonna be resetting as well and have been warning us about that.

Okay.

Yes.

Come to come to you.

Yeah, yeah.

So for us, okay.

That's two of you.

Okay.

Yeah, but you didn't know what this go to her.

Yeah.

Um I'm done.

I've just okay.

So uh you know, one of the things that really caught my attention last last week when we met was this idea of where you place the young people.

You know, and I I thought is is is very unique in the way you are going about it, and especially as somebody that is quite involved in the workforce development, yeah.

Your approach, you know, it it chuck off some of my philosophical approach to workforce development.

Right.

And so maybe maybe talk a little bit about where you place them and also talk about you know where some of these individuals that have successfully graduated from your program are.

Absolutely.

So, as I said, we have over 150 internship partners in New York.

Um, and historically throughout 20 years, we have sought out cut you off, but I heard what you said, 150 intern partnerships in New York.

So whenever New York City.

In New York City got it.

So with any of our participants, once they pass your course, would they be given the same opportunities to be able to go to New York to get some of those internships?

That's actually a great question.

And so, yes, it's actually a great question.

So council member, with that, we have already identified a few internship partners that have worked with us in New York, Park and K, Back Chamber, Um, Parlay Magazine, The Role Initiative, which are some media entities uh that are actually very interested in expanding their work with our young people to also in New York City to individuals in Syracuse as well.

Okay.

Um I should just give you everyone a bit of insight.

So historically, we have purposely sought out businesses, corporations, organizations that young people would not typically have access to, particularly young people that have been afflicted by involvement with the criminal justice system.

Um and so we also don't pick out internship partners that teenagers typically go to for their first job.

So for instance, we don't have fast casual, fast food restaurants, um, fast food uh fast um clothing restaurant, uh clothing stores.

Um and so we've relied on places like law firms, architecture firms, um, as well as movie studios, art galleries, uh, other nonprofits.

Um so places like the Innocence Project, DBI, which is an architecture firm, Brooklyn Children's Museum, um, as well as some of the defenders' offices uh that also refer into us.

They also serve as internship partners as well for us.

Last week, during our visit here, we were able to secure commitments, um, additional commitments from four Syracuse uh local entities, including SUNY Upstate, the Tech Garden, uh Most, as well as Everson Museum.

And we have some architectural firms here, and they've been curious because I've gotten some calls as to why when they see students come into the classrooms, they don't see any students of color.

And so that's something that we are very mindful of.

Um, and so part of the internship model, also, councilman to your point is also preparing a lot of these entities which have not typically employed young people who have been not only of color, but also who have been afflicted by Crumb Justice involvement um with how to support them.

Um it's also a big reason, council, why we don't put the burden of payment on our internship partners.

I think as we all know, getting someone to agree to take someone is a lot, getting someone to agree to take someone and pay them is even more.

Um, and so the way we structure our internship model is that all we ask of our internship partners is to curate an amazing first work experience for them.

Um and so, as we know, the first job that a lot of people have shapes the way that they view the world of work.

And so we have always said that we want our internship partners to provide and curate that great experience and also serve as the first block in their network for our young people for them to be able to call on when they're done.

Same model will be replicated in Syracuse.

And so, as we went over last week, council member, we have for instance, uh, we'd like to target Barclay Damon, Terra Keat, um, and we have a list of about 10 to 12 internship sites that we'd like to look at.

I would love any recommendations or connections that this council has as we start to build out our internship partners, but we were thrilled to secure those four commitments last week.

And um, can you just speak to um exalt in New York's ability to reach the different uh cultures?

Um, because we have uh huge variety of uh new Americans for one, um American-born new Americans.

Um they're a little different.

Um, but uh just you know, making sure that like that that cultural um differences um and them being able to engage in such programs at the same time.

Absolutely.

And so uh councilman and I went over this last week, both of us connecting as uh first generation, and so my family is of Trinidadian descent.

I am the first generation born here.

Um and so a large amount of our young people that we serve are West Indian first generation, African first generation, as well as Latinx.

Um, and so we're very cognizant of those cultural differences uh or cultural connections that we need to have, which is also why we have an extremely diverse staff in New York from not only people of color, but people of color representing um variety of different places around the world.

Uh as we all know, our CEO is uh Puerto Rican woman um and actually the only Puerto Rican woman leading a major nonprofit uh in New York City, which of course we know representation matters.

Um and so we're very cognizant of the way that we operate uh with our staff with that.

Um and it is also something that we have at the forefront of our mind when thinking about Syracuse and making sure that our staff correctly represents the demographics that we're serving.

And so have you guys been in, I don't know, maybe this question for Sharon or Latif, like has there been any uh introductions to like I don't know how well La Liga is working right now, but La Liga or Haji, like those those organizations that represent some of those um communities so days that we talked about, we did a mass outreach to everyone.

Um we'll have to go back over those attendance sheets to find out who made it, whoever did not, and get the introduction to the program.

We're sure that happens.

Okay.

And I have uh architecture firm.

I'd like to uh just uh whisper to uh Latif that we have to remember also in the JSCB, there's an intern component to the diversity plan there, and so that's an opportunity.

We'll make sure that we are we're introducing this team to that team that has all of these architectural firms, and as you know, we're going through the RFP process now to secure the first firms for the 400 million dollar JSCB project.

Any other questions?

I promise I got one if you've got you.

I'm a huge Knicks fan.

What's the good question?

Quick comment, good comment.

Good comment.

Good comment did win last night.

So yes.

So any other questions?

No.

All right.

So to close it off, I I asked that question initially because you know from a workforce development perspective.

You know, we in a nutshell, the point of workforce development is to be able to get people into places where they are able to merit what they love with their skill.

You know, and that's that's that's in a nutshell is career.

You know, job, yes, you can do, but the goal is careers, right?

And and one of the things that I have come to know, especially when you are working with individuals that are struggling trying to get there, is being able to model the future for them.

Absolutely, as opposed to the present.

Absolutely being able to say, okay, you are here now, rather than giving you what you are.

You know, let me give you a flavor, a little bit of flavor of what you could have.

Love that description, right?

Absolutely.

Let me give you a little flavor of what you can could have, and and and the way you do and the way you will go about it, has a lot to do with whether these individuals buy it or not, right?

And being able to frame that picture in their mind.

Yes.

What they the what could be, in which you know, a lot of people, many people, you know, are intrigued by what could be the interest, the ability to keep dreaming, right?

And it's one of the foundational questions actually of our candidate assessment counselor.

Um, is we ask our young people when they're first coming to the program, where do you see yourself in five years?

Um, and part of that is we recognize that one of the unfortunate ramifications of poverty is being in survival mode.

And when you're in survival mode, you often don't have the ability to dream.

Um, I will say that that is probably the question our young people struggle with most.

And so a big part of why that's a question is we go through the course of the program trying to get them to the point that they're dreaming and thinking about what their careers are going to be like, what they want to do with their future endeavors.

Um, and this is where the internship, the power of that really comes in.

Um, is because if our young people do say, you know, I I can't really think that far, but I'd like to be maybe a lawyer if I could, or I'd like to work in tech.

We have the ability to take that little initial spark and give them a taste of that through the internship program.

So our internship matching does go a long way in terms of connecting them with how they answer that initial question, or maybe don't, or have a small answer that we're able to then give them a taste to your point of what that career and life will look like, which will improve their ability to dream.

I just want to piggyback on that, and you may have mentioned it, but I didn't write it down, so I don't know it, but um, I know you talked about the um alumni program, but are there any alumni that work for the organization where people where some of the youth can see like I was you at one point in time?

Um so like similar, like I just put it out there on point for college.

You know, they they have a lot of alumni who one work for them and then one right here.

And um, so a lot of them are in the community, people see them in some of these top jobs.

So, like, do you have anyone in the organization?

Actually, have one of our fantastic teachers who actually just got promoted to a senior teacher, is actually an alumni and a scholarship recipient um from Exalt.

We also have one of our program coordinators is also a um scholarship recipient as well as employed by Exalt.

Our alumni often come back.

We actually have in each one of our cycles an alumni panel in which some of our successful alumni come back to speak to the young people as they are on the precipice of completing their core program and going into the alumni program, counseling to your point so they can see what is next.

Come back, and our young people see that the four and a half months is actually just the start of their journey.

It is not the end.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Absolutely, yeah.

Other questions?

No.

Well, I want to thank all of you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Thanks for taking the time.

All right.