(Long Island, NY) Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Suffolk County Deputy Police Commissioner Risco Mention-Lewis, on behalf of the Council of Thought and Action (COTA), will honor heroes who have helped lead and advance COTA members to success during a ceremony at Farmingdale State College on March 31.
COTA is designed to counter criminal thinking, develop members’ personal standard of character, foster self-motivation, build a positive social network and reset the relationship between law enforcement and ex-offenders, while creating a new, visible moral community movement. COTA is a crucial part of Suffolk County’s Community Based Intervention model to reduce crime which combines Intelligence Led Policing and Strategic Intervention. Overall crime in Wyandanch, where COTA has a strong presence, is down 44% from 2011 to 2015. The COTA program was introduced to the Wyandanch community in 2012.
Among those receiving awards will be David M. Kennedy, director of the National Network for Safe Communities, a project of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Assemblywoman Kimberly Jean-Pierre and Developer Russell Albanese of Wyandanch Rising.
Dozens of Long Islanders will tell their inspirational stories of how COTA afforded them the opportunity to turn their lives around, to hope, to succeed and to stop the cycle of violence and incarceration.
WHEN: Thursday, March 31 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
WHERE: Farmingdale State College, Student Center, Ballroom A, 2350 Route 110, Farmingdale
