08/07/2026
How will you play the game of life?
At our Non-secure Detention Center, we use the present to imagine a better future — a future that includes gainful employment and stability.
In fact, our program participants have gone on to find work, most recently in construction and security.
Our center provides a setting that is supportive and home-like, yet closely supervised, for youth who have committed a criminal offense but are considered low risk.
In 2025, we served 710 youth, many during incredibly challenging times in their lives. Some residents have their own rooms and others live two to three in a room. For the most part, ages range from 12 to 17 years old.
The main goals for the youth we serve are twofold: avoid recidivism and involvement with the justice system and help facilitate future success.
Through individual and group sessions, our case managers talk with the residents about their plans for when they are released, about themselves, and about their families. We share resources and speak with their lawyers.
Says Rachel Bleecker, Executive Director for Residential Services, “This program is inarguably one of LSSNYs most important programs, serving incarcerated male youth and offering an alternative to incarceration in a home-like setting. Our goal is to help the youth placed at our program — who are disproportionately black and brown — to be heard, to feel understood, to heal, to return home, to course-correct and to hopefully avoid a life of poor decisions/negative outcomes.”
LSSNY provides trusted, community-rooted support that meets urgent needs and builds lasting change.
