Justice In Action: Avenues for Justice’s Court Advocacy Component

At Avenues for Justice (AFJ), we serve Court-Involved and Preventive (At-Risk) Participants, between the ages of 13-24. Our Court-Involved population includes three sub-groups of Participants: a) AFJ's signature, long-term Court Advocacy program (“Court Advocacy"), b) a short-term diversion program for younger Participants whose cases are in the NYC Family Court ("Family Court Diversion"), and c) a program for re-entry Participants who have been recently released from a detention center ("Re-entry").

This week, we want to highlight Aaron: a Participant in our Court Advocacy program, who for the past 8 months has worked diligently to meet the benchmarks he co-authored in his Individualized Action Plan (IAP) given the seriousness of his court matter.

One evening in May 2025, at the age of 17, Aaron was arrested in Queens and charged with a felony. Two months after his arrest, he was released from pre-trial detention at Crossroads Juvenile Detention Center in Brooklyn and connected to AFJ Court Advocate, Julia, through his attorney.

During a court appearance, Aaron’s presiding judge was adamant that he re-enrolls in school or a high school equivalency program. Together, Julia and Aaron co-created an Individualized Action Plan (IAP), and within weeks of starting his court mandate at AFJ, Aaron enrolled in a GED program at The Door. Shortly thereafter, The Door offered him an internship placement at Snow Milk, a designer clothing store. The team at Snow Milk was so impressed by Aaron’s work ethic that, upon successful completion of his internship, they offered him a part-time job. During his internship, Aaron worked in their warehouse helping package online orders. Now, as a part-time employee, he is assisting to lead their sales team.

While working, Aaron made sure to attend daily workshops in the afternoon at our Harlem community center, taking part in various AFJ certification programs. In the past six months, Aaron has attended 50 different workshop sessions. Additionally, last October, Aaron took a week off of work to earn his OSHA-30, Site Safety, Flaggers and Scaffolding certifications, preparing him to apprentice on construction sites. He also completed 10 self-paced Digital Literacy modules which he hopes will help him in his pursuit of graphic design and photo editing. Last fall, Aaron was offered to take part in AFJ’s Leadership Council cohort led by Facilitator, Dr. Dennis Ibude, and Court Advocate, Messiah.

“AFJ taught me that there is a way to live and a way not to live. They opened up opportunities for me that I didn’t even know were available to me. As the sole provider for my young daughter, I didn’t know that I had it in me to work a legit job. AFJ showed me what is possible for me and my family through hard work.” ~ AFJ Participant Aaron

This week, 16 AFJ Participants will be placed in internship sites for our first cohort in 2026. Our job readiness training focuses on workplace expectations, professionalism, communication, self-advocacy, resume development, interview skills, career exploration and real-world hiring preparation. Aaron was selected by AFJ Job Developer, Shantel, to be the first AFJ intern ever to be placed at our organization where he will assist with AFJ’s social media content creation, along with programming at our two community centers. Shantel quickly noticed Aaron’s interest in photography and graphic design and asked him to take pictures of our holiday events in 2025. Soon, Aaron is going to have the opportunity to document daily workshops and major events at our centers.

AFJ Court Advocate, Julia, like Shantel, has been impressed with Aaron since day one, calling him a ‘rising AFJ star’. She is inspired daily by his commitment to providing for his daughter as her primary caregiver. While Aaron’s case is still pending in the Youth Part, today, at the age of 18, he is committed to resolving his court matter and expanding his list of accomplishments as a result of AFJ’s HIRE Up program.

Aaron’s advice to his future AFJ Participants is not to give up because, “it might seem like a lot, but if you listen and take the information in, you will get more out of it then you think. Take advantage of the opportunities AFJ gives you. I don’t know any other place that is helping young people like me.”

“It is important that Aaron gets a second chance because it gives him the opportunity to be a young adult pursuing his goals. He gets to take part in our internship program and spend time with his daughter. He gets to be an actively present father. More importantly, Aaron gets a chance at charting his future and not to be judged by one mistake.” ~AFJ Job Developer Shantel

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