Austin
A Brighter Future; Children In Gangs
Interview with Stephanie Ueberall at Citizens Crime Commission of New York City
Zebulon Stafford, Caleb Siltler, and I met with Stephanie Ueberall of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City to learn about what the organization does to help save children from gangs. Stephanie is the Associate Program Director of the NYCC (New York Crime Commission), where she develops ways to help youth in gangs. We asked Stephanie how she got into this line of work and what she has done so far. Stephanie was a communal psychologist before she joined the NYCC. A communal psychologist is a person who works at community centers and helps children with psychological issues, whether they are gang-related or family issue. Stephanie initially wanted to help children in gangs because she was shocked by her patients’ stories, and she made it her mission to save each child from the captivities of “gang love.” We learned that most children can’t get out of gangs because they normally live with other gang members who won’t allow them to leave. Stephanie said, “Imagine every time you have to walk in your house, there is a group of friends that you used to hang out with, but now you can’t ‘cause they’re involved in some bad stuff, and you know that they might hurt you because they want you to be with them.” Stephanie explained how hard it was for kids to leave a gang when they did not have the resources to live anywhere else. The NYCC helps children in these situations by raising awareness of the issue and putting more guidance counselors in the public school system. They believe that increased awareness will help people realize that gangs are a growing problem and that protecting our children needs to be a priority. Even I had no idea how big of an issue this was until my group began researching. Originally, I had thought that children were a very small part of gang culture, but now I learned that there are many more children in gangs than I had previously believed. Interviewing Stephanie made these facts feel even more terrifying, especially since the facts were backed up by anecdotes from her experiences. Stephanie referred us to many organizations that work alongside the NYCC, and my group will explore this network to figure out how we can best raise awareness of this issue.
