Brown, Galante Support Second Chance Project

Tom Galante with DA Brown.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown met with Queens Borough Public Library Interim Director Tom Galante to renew a pledge of mutual support for the Teen Enrichment Project that provides career counseling and computer classes to non-violent, first-time teenage offenders enrolled in the District Attorney’s Second Chance Program.

Brown, in welcoming the newly appointed interim director, said, "The Teen Enrichment Project uses library resources to help change negative behavior into positive behavior patterns and to enrich and positively channel at-risk young adults. Today, we have renewed our commitment to continue to work together and help young men and young women who have made a misstep turn their lives around."

Galante said, "The Queens District Attorney’s office has been very supportive of the Queens Library’s Teen Enrichment Project. In addition to referring 15 teens every 12 weeks from its Second Chance Program, it has assisted the teens in positive guidance and has always been available to attend and speak at the program’s graduation ceremony."

Galante, for 16 years a Queens Library professional, previously served as business manager, assistant director and deputy director. As interim director he is providing leadership and solid experience to the 63-branch library while the library’s board of trustees conducts a nationwide search for a permanent director.

Brown said that the highly regarded Teen Enrichment Project was established during the tenure of former Library director Gary Strong who left earlier this year to become head librarian at the University of California at Los Angeles. The project has helped hundreds of teenagers since its establishment in 1999.

Currently, 15 young men and women are enrolled in the project. They were referred from the District Attorney’s Second Chance Program, a program for first-time offenders. For an hour and a half twice weekly over an eight-week period, the youths meet at the main library in Jamaica as an alternative to prosecution for various non-violent offenses, including shoplifting, graffiti vandalism or motor vehicle infractions.

Giordano explained that when a defendant satisfactorily completes the project’s requirements the District Attorney’s Office makes a recommendation in Criminal Court that the defendant’s case be adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. Thereafter, if the defendant is not rearrested over the next six months, the record of the case is sealed by law, restoring to the project graduate the status he or she held before arrest.

The project provides four weeks of career counseling and computer training, two weeks of self-esteem workshops and two weeks of college scholarship information before graduation. In addition, the youths are provided hands-on office training, a library tour, library cards and weekly discussion of reading selections. They are also taught Internet job searching skills, provided with an e-mail address and the opportunity for employment at the library.

Two project graduates who consented to be publicly acknowledged credit the project with turning their lives in a positive and productive direction. Blanca Cassinelli, 20, now a physical therapist, was arrested in November 1999 for shoplifting in Flushing. Upon completing the project training, she was chosen to give the valedictory address at graduation. Nicholai Khan, 20, now a student, was arrested in May 2002 for graffiti vandalism in Bayside. While in training he shared his extraordinary artistic talent with youngsters at various Queens Library branches. He attends the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and teachers art at the National Institute for People with Disabilities.

Brown said that the overall goal of the project is to help at-risk teenagers learn how to take control of their lives, adding: "We have been giving troubled teenagers who have made a mistake another chance to get it right, and we are pleased that they have been accepting our helping hand."