Leake & Watts and Yonkers Police Department Appear on FOX 5 WNYC's GOOD DAY STREET TALK

Eighteen months after the “Let’s Grow Together” program first launched, major New York metro media outlets are spotlighting its success, inviting representatives from Leake & Watts, the Yonkers Police Department (YPD), and teens from Leake & Watts’ Residential Treatment Center (RTC) to discuss the program as a model for other cities across the country.

FOX 5 WNYC’s “Good Day Street Talk” – a community affairs program hosted by Antwan Lewis—recently interviewed Alan Mucatel, executive director of Leake & Watts, Officer Eric Giusto of YPD, and Christian Hurtado, a teen in Leake & Watts’ RTC. The trio was invited to appear to discuss how the innovative new program has helped changed perceptions for both teens and officers in Yonkers. In April, Mr. Mucatel, Officer Giusto, and Christian were guests on The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, as well as another youth and officer in the program.

Through the “Let’s Grow Together” program, Yonkers police officers and youth in Leake & Watts’ RTC, a 24-hour therapeutic residential program that supports youth with mental-health challenges, developmental disabilities, behavioral challenges and/or a history of trauma suffered through abuse and neglect, meet together on a regular basis for collaborative, community-based projects that have included tending the Leake & Watts community garden, park clean ups, National Night Out, and a mural painting at the Yonkers 3rd Precinct.

As Mr. Mucatel points out, “All of these projects together provided opportunities to find common solutions, and that brought these relationships that much further along.” Mr. Mucatel noted that the positive perceptions gained by teens in the program also had a positive effect on teens outside the program. According to Christian, “This program definitely helped my peers and friends change their perceptions of the police. There are so many negative things on social media and in media in general, so working with the police directly really helped changed people’s attitudes.”

The program has also impacted police officers in Yonkers as they’ve formed strong relationships and friendships with local teens. According to Officer Giusto, “With programs like we can actually sit down with youth in our community and they can see us as human beings and we can get to know each other better. It’s important to be part of the community that you are serving, and programs like this make that possible.”