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Our organization was founded in 1990 at the Austin MacCormick Alternative High School on Rikers Island - known then and now as Island Academy. Friends of Island Academy was created by a group of committed New York City education, correction and social service professionals who sought to address staggering recidivism rates and demographic realities, untapped potential and minority overrepresentation among the thousands of adolescents who attend school on Rikers Island every year. As our name implies, Friends focuses on those who have attended Island Academy to help them continue their education, seek employment, and ease their transition back into the community.
Twenty years ago, Friends pioneered the delivery of post-release services to adolescents at Island Academy:
- by beginning our "post-release" work while youth are still inside and prior to their return to the community;
- by seeking the youths' involvement without the leverage provided by court mandate; and
- by developing youth leaders who harness their achievements and serve as a compelling example to their at-risk peers.
Through daily offerings in education, employment, social support and youth leadership, Friends seeks to level the playing field for our youth members by building on relationships we develop with them prior to their release.
At local, state and federal levels, the importance of supporting an ex-offender's re-entry is a legislative and public policy priority. Friends began to address the issue 20 years ago, and it continues to do so to this day.
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