They’re Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Blue!
Cops with Canarsie’s 69th Precinct are putting neighborhood youngsters on paths to success by mentoring local kids as part of a new partnership between the precinct and do-good group Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City.
The initiative pairs area children enrolled in after-school programs with the Police Department’s community-service arm, the Police Athletic League, with 69th Precinct officials, who will counsel the tykes to forge better connections between them, New York’s Finest, and the neighborhood in general, according to a Big Brothers Big Sisters bigwig.
“These mentoring relationships have a remarkable impact on both the young people we serve, and the community at large,” said Jon May, the interim executive director of the group’s city chapter.
The do-gooders already paired some 20 local tots with authorities, all of whom came out on Nov. 14 for a ceremony at the Police Athletic League center at Canarsie’s public Breukelen Houses to kick off the one-year program, during which mentors will meet monthly with the youngsters after school to talk about such topics as education, career goals, and other aspirations.
Local Big Brothers Big Sisters leaders brought the so-called “Bigs in Blue” mentoring initiative to Kings County after debuting it at other precincts in the Bronx and Manhattan using $50,000 they received from the do-good group’s national arm and health-care company Well Care, according to a rep.
The program currently serves some 75 youngsters citywide, and organizers plan to expand it to more precincts, but the rep did not specify which of those may be in Brooklyn, or when it would debut elsewhere.
