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New Beginning for Gang Members
Traveler Watchman (The Independent), September 5, 2007

They've spent their lives bustin' guns, robbing banks, and beating their enemies bloody. They have been charged with an array of horrific crimes ranging from murder to career drug dealing. By their own accounts, they have
grown up on povertystricken streets, been schooled in shattering lives, inflicting beatings and bringing despair upon the families of those they've brutally killed... (more)

Harmony Day: A day for non-violence
The Pirateer News, Tottenville High School Newspaper , April 28, 2007

THS students pledged against violence. On Friday, April 20, 2007, Tottenville High School participated in Harmony Day. The day’s schedule was set up by Mrs. Cama’s Peer Mediation classes and Mr. Cucuzza’s Council for Unity class.. (more)

Keeping gangs out of school
7online.com, April 4, 2007

One group is actually using former gang members to convince kids to steer clear of gangs. Education reporter Art McFarland has details. "I will work to improve my school," students said, reciting a pledge. The pledge is for a meeting of the Council For Unity at Bronx Health Sciences High School. The council is active in dozens of schools, there and elsewhere. It uses former gang members to help keep gang activities out of schools... (more)

Riverhead urges crime crackdown
Newsday, February 13, 2007

Sparked in part by two probable gang-related shootings in less than two months, Riverhead officials have asked the Suffolk district attorney's office and county police to help mount a coordinated law enforcement effort in its downtown business district... (more)

Council for Unity expands its reach
Our Schools Riverhead School District (Newsletter Vol. 23/No.3) Jan. 2007

Three and a half years ago, Riverhead High School, with a population of about 1500 students and a diverse student body, was becoming even more diverse and at times more divided. An “incident” between two neighborhood groups and a growing concern about gangs moving east on Long Island, led the principal and the school violence prevention director, Theresa Drozd, to look for a program that could help kids get along and prevent them from turning to a gang culture... (more)

Youths Power Emerald Jewel
Courier Life Publications (Park Slope Courier), December 8, 2006

Join the Prospect Park Alliance as they induct 17 new members of the Prospect Park Youth Council at 5:30 p.m., December 13. Returning members and alumni will also be honored...This year’s new members represent the following youth programs and/or agencies and schools: Council For Unity, Italian American League... (more)

Fighting gangs from inside out
Newsday, November 28, 2006

Correctional facility becomes first in state to operate anti-gang program, which offers job training, remedial education, sense of family ... (more)

Unity in Albany?
Metroland Online (Vol. 29 No. 44) November 23, 2006

Gang-prevention group wants the city to put politics aside and bring the community together to stop the cycle of violence in schools Sean “Dino” Johnson, an ex-felon and onetime resident of Sing Sing Prison, rapped his knuckles three times against a wooden podium in the auditorium of Albany’s Harriet Gibbons High School last Thursday night (Nov. 16) ... (more)

Albany can help Albany students succeed
timesunion.com, November 9, 2006

Kate Gurnett's commentary (Oct. 19) on the visit to Albany's high‐needs neighborhoods by representatives of the Council for Unity gave a sadly accurate description of the challenges facing our community as a whole and, particularly, the needs of many children in Albany's public schools... (more)

Indifference shows on streets
timesunion.com, October 19, 2006

As police swept Albany of 30 alleged gangstas last Friday, a tour of a different sort was also under way. Former gangstas -- Latin Kings, Crips and Bloods from New York City -- were taking a drive through Arbor Hill, West Hill and the South End. They were here to promote the Council for Unity, a national anti-gang program with more than 60 chapters... (more)

Council for Unity idea catches on
Times Review Newspaper (North Fork, L.I.), September 27, 2006

Riverhead's Council for Unity program continues to be a role model that other communities and groups are following... (more)

Council for Unity working proactively against gangs
Riverhead Central School District online, Fall 2006

Members of the Council for Unity at RHS work together to keep RHS a peaceful learning environment for all of the school’s students, to erase lines of division among its student body, to promote tolerance and to strive for unity. This year, in addition to the Council for Unity Club, which meets as an after
school club, RHS also offers a History/English elective, which follows the national curriculum written for the Council... (more)

Pulaski Council for Unity 2006
Riverhead Central School District online , Fall 2006

There is a strategic attempt in Riverhead and within our schools to prevent children from being lured into a culture and the kind of decision making that promotes a gang mentality... (more)

Quadre Mims (Grade 12) has won Steve Levy's Rabbi Moss
2006 Anti-Bias Task Force Award
Riverhead Central School District online, Fall 2006

At a time when bias and violence seem more prevalent than ever on Long Island, it seems appropriate to celebrate the “peacekeepers.” Quadrae Mims is one of those peacekeepers, and Suffolk County Supervisor Steve Levy
is recognizing him for his leadership and participation in Riverhead High School’s Council for Unity... (more)

Peer group offers solution to gangs' cycle of conflict
Daily News, July 26, 2006

Recent statistics released by the Justice Department reveal that gang members in America has grown to over 1 million. That figure is twice what it was 15 years ago. It is clear we are facing a serious problem, compounded by the fact that many communities and schools throughout the country are in denial that this threat even exists... (more)


The gang's all here
Daily News, June 27, 2006

You might expect a man who arranges sitdowns between the toughest of tough street gangs to look like a combination of "The Godfather's" Luca Brasi and Conan the Barbarian. But Bob DeSena, founder and president of the Council for Unity, resembles more a glad-handing mayor with an easy manner and a man-of-the-people demeanor... (more)

Ganging up on violence
Daily News, June 18, 2006

At 14, Lefrak City native Sean (Dino) Johnson was running drugs across the country for a street gang. He spent the next 12 years in and out of jail. With each release - and each return to his neighborhood - Johnson ascended the all-important street-credibility ladder... (more)

Gangs go home: Town unifies to target violence
Traveler Watchman (The Independent), April 5, 2006

Carolynn Ross is a single mother in Riverhead raising two sons, Darrell, 11, and Eric, 13. According to his mom, Darrell, who attends Riverhead’s Pulaski Street Elementary School, is bright, sweet, and funny. But Darrell also “has super energy. He’s the class clown.” Subsequently, since Darrell was a little boy, Ross has had her fair share of calls to the principal’s office to address the antics of her spirited son... (more)

It's a Small World After All at P.S. 177
Courier Life Publications, March 30, 2006

A rainbow of performances ignited the stage – and traditional foods tickled the palate – when Region 7 students presented a multicultural fair at Public
School 177... (more)

East End Gang Awareness Committee is holding its annual gang
awareness seminar
Suffolk Life Newspapers, March 18, 2006

In a continuing effort to apprise society of gang violence and aggression amongst youth, the East End Gang Awareness Committee is holding its annual gang awareness seminar... (more)

There is life after gangs
Times Review Newspaper (North Fork, L.I.), January 18, 2006

RIVERHEAD--Kyle Harmon said he joined the street gang the Crips after watching his best friend get gunned down in a drive-by shooting on a Bronx street in 1999... (more)

Unifying to Flatline Gang Violence
Traveler Watchman (The Independent), April 28, 2005

It is 9:30 on a bright and sunny Friday morning as a group of students
enters their classroom at Riverhead High School and moves their desks
into a circle. Laughing, joking, good-naturedly teasing, they seem innately
at ease with one another, less like a classroom full of disparate kids
brought together to study a lesson than a group of siblings at a breakfast
table... (more)

Group turns city teens away from gangs
NY1, March 22, 2005

What does it take to turn teenagers away from drugs and violence and onto jobs, hope and unity? NY1 Education Reporter Jennifer Rainville filed this story about a group that has helped changed the course of hundreds of city teenagers’ lives... (more)

When gangs become family
Daily News, February 27, 2005

Helpless children targeted by street gangs often find thug lifestyle tempting because of what the hoodlums offer: a sense of family and instant tough-guy status ... (more)

Group Turns City Teens Away From Gangs
NY1 News, February 2005

What does it take to turn teenagers away from drugs and violence and onto jobs, hope and unity? NY1 Education Reporter Jennifer Rainville filed this story about a group that has helped changed the course of hundreds of city teenagers' lives(more)


Ex-Bood Runs With A New "Gang" To Honor Slain Beau
NY Post, April 2004

A reformed street-gang member has traded in her colors for fatigues, hoping to serve her country in the Persian Gulf to honor the memory of an ex-boyfriend, gunned down in Brooklyn while on leave from the Navy. (more)



Kirkwood High Group Campaigns for More Tolerance, Less Bullying
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Council for Unity, a diverse group of high school students, is focusing this year on teaching elementary-school students not to be victims of bullies. ... (more)


School Relives Violent Past To Keep Peace
New York Times

In the Spring of 1975, the owners of a luncheonette across the street from John Dewey High School in Coney Island put a sign on their jukebox saying that no music could be played during the day. ... (more)


Play Reviews Schools Racially Tense Past
SOURCE, DATE

Nelson Wayne (Chill) Ennis stood motionless backstage of the John Dewey High School auditorium, watching an important part of his life being acted out on stage. "It was a great experience," Ennis said after the performance earlier this month. "It brought back a lot of memories of how ignorant I used to be." ... (more)


A Life Detoured from Danger
Daily News

You spend some time with Bob DeSena, who came up with a good idea 24 years ago and has seen it turn into a lifesaver, and you can understand why Damon Rozier calls him, "My father." This is some kind of love story. ... (more)


In the Bronx, Ethnic Mix Breeds Tensions at School
New York Times, February 2001

At lunchtime, the Albanian students at Herbert H. Lehman High School in the Bronx gather in front of the diner across East Tremont Avenue. Other students, many of them black and Hispanic, head the other way, toward the White Castle. ... (more)


Teen Council Eases Tensions, Sitdowns Cool Gang Hostility
Daily News, January 2000

Carlton Henry's idea of conflict resolution used to be wearing red and black gang colors and wielding a razor blade. Now he solves his problems by sitting in a circle talking with other high school students or bowling a game or two with them. ... (more)


We're Not So Different
The Jewish Week, April 1997

It wasn't only Asians, blacks and Latinos who listened intently and asked questions about the customs of Passover at a special seder last week in Brighton Beach. ... (more)


Celebrating Deliverance
The Jewish Week, April 1994

Linked by hope, 300 students from city schools throughout Brooklyn broke Matzoh and shared wishes for a better world at the 10th annual Passover seder sponsored by the Council for Unity in Starett City. ... (more)


Buddy Language
New York Newsday, August 1993

By Ricky Brown's estimation, when his fellow classmates at Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School return to school next week, about half of them will be carrying a weapon into the 206-year-old building. ... (more)


From Racial Strife, Youths Find Harmony
Bay News, June 1987

In September of 1979, a racial incident rocked John Dewey High School and the Bensonhurst community, leaving many individuals with physical and emotional scars. ... (more)