STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- This summer, the NYPD Patrol Borough of Staten Island (PBSI) is determined to continue its commitment to cleaner and safer neighborhoods on Staten Island with a series of events across the borough as part of their Summer of Growth program.

The events, geared toward Staten Island youth, will consist of a combination of park and neighborhood clean-ups as well as recreation including sports, a movie day, a nature walk, and more.

Summer of Growth will begin with a grand opening in Mahoney Park on July 1 from 11 a.m. 2 p.m. PBSI Youth Coordination Officer Derek Brown, who is part of the team that Chief Frank Vega assembled to organize the program, described the event to the Advance/SILive.com as being an all out kind of block party atmosphere.

We want to get some momentum with the youth of the community have some fun, play some sports, listen to some music, dance, give some information on what were going to be doing all summer, Brown said.

Brown explained that the planning team wanted to ensure that Summer of Growth is balanced with both community service and fun.

We wanted the youth that get involved, if theyre going to come out and work with us and theyre going to put their best foot forward to help us bring some pride back to the community of Staten Island, we want them to have some fun. We want them to see the fruits of their labor, said Brown.

Each week, there will be a clean-up event in a specific neighborhood or park on Tuesday and then the group will return on Thursday to the same location for some fun events.

The Summer of Growth events will take place in all four precincts and various neighborhoods across the borough. Youth participants can attend as many events as they choose, and no registration is required.

We wanted to do something that was broad and covered the whole island. We wanted every portion of our community to be involved, Brown explained.

Brown also told the Advance/SILive.com that the events will provide an opportunity for the department to foster a better relationship with the youth in the community in an informal setting.

As were walking through a park or were doing some outreach, it provides a nice, more comfortable atmosphere for them to express themselves to us, having conversations that they want to have with the police department, he said.

Throughout the program, each precinct will have a piece of traveling art that will be brought to events in their corresponding precinct. Volunteers will sign and contribute something inspirational and personal to the art piece. Brown explained that he and the planning team felt it was important to have something tangible for the precincts and the volunteers that honors the work they will have done.

With such an ambitious undertaking going on, theres no way that we would want this to go without being memorialized, Brown said.

As part of the departments mission to drive awareness issues such as the boroughs opioid crisis, the boards will have a purple background in recognition of National Overdose Awareness Day, which is Aug. 31.

At the end of the summer, the boards will be presented to the precinct commanders and then hung in the lobbies of the precincts for police officers and community members to look at with a sense of pride.

The program will conclude with a celebration of what the community and precincts have accomplished together.

When asked what he specifically wants Staten Islanders to know about the program, Brown replied: We can only grow together. We cant just grow in pieces. So its something that we have to do as a community, as a whole.

Brown emphasized that all of the events are open and dont require applications or sign-ups. He encourages everyone to stop by even if its just for one event because it still makes a difference.

Excerpt from:

NYPD will work all summer with Staten Island youth to beautify the community -- and have some fun, too - SILive.com