Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
“Intolerance will never take hold here,” Mayor de Blasio said on Sunday.
By Forum Staff
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday launched new multi-ethnic interfaith Neighborhood Safety Coalitions, increased Police Department presence, and new Department of Education lesson plans and curriculum as part of the City’s response to the recent spike in hate crimes across the five boroughs—specifically, anti-Semitic attacks.
In addition to an immediate increased police presence, the new Neighborhood Safety Coalitions will have physical presences in the community with neighborhood safety walks and corner watches. They will also offer ongoing programming designed to promote tolerance and break down stereotypes, de Blasio noted.
According to the administration, the NYPD will increase resources and patrols to precincts in Borough Park, Midwood, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Each precinct will have an additional four to six officers per tour. In addition to an increased NYPD presence at houses of worship and during local events, six new light towers will be posted in Borough Park and additional security cameras will be installed throughout these neighborhoods. Fifteen light towers have already been installed this month.
Neighborhood Safety Coalitions will launch in Williamsburg, Crown Heights, and Borough Park, and will be overseen by the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. These individual coalitions will identify and address issues that drive hate-based crimes, bringing together stakeholders from across their communities. They will meet community members where they are—in schools, on street corners, in religious institutions—to be a regular presence to deter acts of hate.
Each coalition will gather regularly to strategize about ways to interrupt hate acts before they happen, de Blasio said. The coalitions will identify and offer programming within their neighborhoods that foster community and connect directly with local youth in and after school hours.
The coalitions are based on a model already used by residents in East Flatbush and Williamsburg/Bushwick through the Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence, in which community groups, neighborhood leaders, and clergy have worked together with local police precincts to dramatically reduce gun violence in their communities.
City Education officials indicated that the DOE will be implementing hate-crime awareness programming next month for middle and high schools in Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park, including workshops with community partners and leveraging existing social studies curricula and resources. Curriculum on hate crimes will be launched at middle and high schools in these neighborhoods beginning in the 2020-21 school year. These curriculum resources will also be available to middle and high schools citywide.
Citywide, the DOE will distribute resources to facilitate important conversations in the classroom in January, and the annual Respect for All Week in February will focus on preventing and addressing hate crimes.
City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said that schools are encouraged to develop opportunities for students to discuss what discrimination and religious intolerance might look like in a school and collectively explore the positive actions they can take to promote acceptance, inclusion, and the diversity of their communities.
The administration has pledged to launch a series of advertising and social media campaigns to highlight the City’s diversity and encourage respect for all communities, the mayor said.
“Intolerance will never take hold here,” de Blasio added.
