All Stars Project INC.

On Tuesday, July 31, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Dr. Lenora B. Fulani appeared together in Harlem to present Operation Conversation: Cops and Kids, a program designed to improve relations between police and inner-city youth.   This innovative and successful program was recently incorporated by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) into its training for police officers.

 

Photo, l. to r.: Lisa Kenner, Resident Association President, Van Dyke Houses; Devin Balcacer, youth leader; Joshua Brown, youth leader; Ray Kelly, NYPD Commissioner;  Dr. Lenora Fulani, Director, Operation Conversation: Cops and Kids; Michael Walsh, NYPD Officer; Joel Mottola, NYPD Officer ; Gabrielle L. Kurlander, All Stars Project President and CEO;  Jackie Rowe-Adams, Co-founder, Harlem Mothers SAVE

At the July 31 press conference, Commissioner Kelly and Dr. Fulani, along with police officers and youth who have participated in the program, spoke about the Cops and Kids workshops and their impact. Community leaders, Lisa Kenner and Jackie Rowe-Adams who have observed the program also gave their views on the effectiveness of the program.

Operation Conversation: Cops and Kids was fir

st created in 2006 by All Stars co-founder Dr. Fulani. The program uses a performance-based approach that allows police officers and youth to create new experiences of one another and new ways of relating to each other in the streets. In 2011, Operation Conversation was formally adopted by the NYPD when it signed an agreement with the All Stars Project (ASP), which sponsors the program.

"The NYPD's first priority is keeping New York City's streets safe, especially for the most vulnerable. We welcome the opportunity to partner with organizations like the All Stars Project who have devised innovative, creative ways to bring police and youth closer together. The program has helped break down barriers between teens and police officers. The All Stars collaboration is one of the more recent in ongoing NYPD efforts to engage young people, including the Law Enforcement Explorers program, our NYPD youth cricket and soccer leagues, the police cadet program for college-bound teens, and the Juvenile Robbery Intervention Program in public housing, in which officers work with young adults to steer them away from repeat offenses.

Through the All Stars program, police officers and teens have the opportunity to speak candidly with one another, share their experiences, and foster trust," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said.

Dr. Fulani added, "Operation Conversation: Cops and Kids workshops give the kids and the cops the chance to step outside some of their usual roles and responses and discover some new ways of relating. We use performance, pretending and improvisation to help cops and kids see each other in more human ways. I commend Commissioner Kelly and the NYPD for their open-mindedness on these issues, for their willingness to do what works best to bridge the divisions in our communities, divisions that weaken both our ability to fight crime and our ability to provide a decent and quality life to everyone, regardless of the color of their skin or which neighborhood they live in. 

Commissioner Kelly and I both recognize that certain fundamental social needs are not being met by traditional approaches, and we have both put ourselves on the line to meet those needs."

Since the program's inception, Dr. Fulani has conducted workshops with 935 youth and 713 police officers in all five boroughs.  Additionally, 129 police recruits were part of an Operation Conversation training in early July.