Health Station Academy (HSA)
The Health Station Institute for Youth & Public Health
“Healed People Heal People”
The Health Station Academy (HSA) is a dynamic training program focused on the development of Public Health credible messengers to work in the Public health, the community & social services fields throughout New York State. These mentors help young people navigate community violence and avoid the criminal justice system. Credible messengers are gaining systems-level recognition in New York City as an effective strategy to reduce crime and criminal justice involvement. HSA provides vendor training to for young adukts’ who enter the food service industry, coupled with public health. The Health Station is a Direct project of the Incarcerated Nation Network, Inc.
The Health Station Academy (HSA)
The Health Station Academy is a 501(C) 3 non-profit organization project that is dedicated to the advancement of the health and well-being of all New Yorkers. To this end in HSA will bring more health and community services to New Yorkers with the goal of reducing health inequities within the community on a neighborhood level through a system of Growing locations. HSA advocates & organizes for community health & post incarceration redirection for justice impacted youth. Violence is a public health risk that impacts entire communities that make up NYS.
Health Station Academies pedagogy focuses on the root causes of Violence within the community through restorative justice training programs centered on reducing Violence & increasing the access to a healthy life. The Academy is based within the community at The Incarcerated Nation Center in collaboration with Community partners & the new School Institute for Transformative Mentoring that offers an intensive, semester-long training courses. The Institute is intended to help young credible messengers heal and enhance their practical skills so they are healthier, more knowledgeable and better able to help others heal while.
Health Station : Natural Standards for Healthy Living
Health Station Academy (HSA) provides adequate access to health to the communities they serve. HSA Public Health Navigators provide a wealth of resources and support within their districts. The 16 week training is structured using restorative justice practices and interactive learning to support young participants in engaging deeply with the material and each other through the internship. it combines the health food business with trauma informed training along with a farming portion that enables young adults to cultivate the very food they supply to their community. HSA is a business that serves NYC residents as well as providing access, to health care, access to insurance, healthy food options & a network of health products and free community classes.
Need/Impact
New York City is increasingly employing credible messengers to engage young adults involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. These programs serve thousands of young people through youth justice, violence interruption, and afterschool programs. For the programs to be impactful and norm-changing, they must provide alternatives and opportunities for both participants and credible messenger staff for lawful, gainful employment and support to build productive and healthy lives for themselves and their families. Credible messengers are hired to stand in harm’s way in the streets and act as agents of change in young people’s lives. They also become staff at human services agencies and must adapt to an entirely different set of norms. The Institute was developed in partnership with social service employers and responds to the need for professional development and support for this vital workforce. Credible messengers help make communities safer and reduce incarceration. Mayor de Blasio has recognized their impact on reducing gun violence and a new evaluation from the Urban Institute and the Department of Probation shows a 57% decrease in convictions among young people working with credible messenger mentors.
*Quoted from the Institute for Transformative Mentoring at The New School
““We know all too well that Hurt People, Hurt People.
We believe that Healed People Heal People””
Organization
“Natural Standards for Healthy Living”
Health Station Academy (HSA) is an alternative to incarceration program providing post Incarceration redirection to Justice Impacted young adults. HSA pedagogy is rooted in using restorative justice practices and interactive learning to support participants in engaging deeply with the material and each other. The college-level course covers trauma-informed care, youth development, history of mass incarceration and a social justice framework, and career advancement. Students engage in activities, role play exercises, and develop lesson plans and strategies that they use in their daily work with young people while navigating them to health services. Each member is trained in preventive services, CPR, and lifesaving skills that are needed within the community when employed as peer navigators. (Public Health Credible Messenger)Peer Navigators that will assist their neighborhood districts to increase the healthy solutions & resources that lead to a reduction of violence.
The New School’s Center for New York City Affairs developed the original first Institute for Transformative Mentoring program in collaboration with credible messengers and social service employers, including Good Shepherd Services, Osborne Association, and Children’s Village. The Pinkerton Foundation helped to develop the ITM program that is funded by the JM Kaplan Fund, Other Press, The New School, and the Mayor’s Office for Criminal Justice, employers, and individual donors.
The Center for New York City Affairs is an applied public policy organization at The New School that is focused on practical solutions to the city’s most pressing social and economic challenges. The Center has a long-standing commitment to juvenile and criminal justice reform. The New School offers college credit for the course and participants benefit from campus resources and events, such as library and computer access, lectures by leading thinkers, concerts and film screenings, and other student activities
Health Station Academy is a network of organizations, businesses, educational institutions & health care provider institutions, disability professionals, private supporters, Credible Messengers & private donors all collaboratively working toward public health solutions to end violence & increase community health levels. Tyrell Dixson Founder of The Health Station, Cyrus “Bull Whip “ X and Five Mualimmak Co-founder of the Incarcerated Nation alongside graduates of ITM New School and the sanctuary institute, ART, AVP in collaboration with the NYS Campaign to End the New Jim Crow launched Health Station Academy using restorative justice practices and interactive learning to support participants in engaging deeply with the material and each other. The college-level course covers trauma-informed care, youth development, history of mass incarceration and a social justice framework, and career advancement. Students engage in activities, role play exercises, and develop lesson plans and strategies that they use in their daily work with young people. These trauma informed trainings and workshops will not only absorb community service hours for the participants but additionally train ready willing and able justice impacted youth to be prepared for employment as Public Health Credible Messengers.
Program Description
Needs and problem statement for a better community health outcome
The Health Station Academy for Public Health (HSA) is based inside of the NYCTCRC project of Incarcerated Nation Network, Inc. The HSA is intended to help Public Health Credible messengers heal and enhance their practical skills so they are healthier, more knowledgeable and better able to help others. HSA is structured using restorative justice practices and interactive learning to support participants in engaging deeply with the material and each other.
The college-level course covers trauma-informed care, youth development, history of mass incarceration and a social justice framework, and career advancement. Students engage in activities, role play exercises, and develop lesson plans and strategies that they use in their daily work with young people. The program is designed to increase insight in working with youth, greater initiative in planning activities, and more intentional engagement with other agency leaders. HSA also offers a condensed version of the course during the summer for young adults who are mentees in the HSA OSTC program (Other Side of the Counter) we train youth to be servers at Health Station Business and interested in becoming public health peer mentors.
In 2019, we are expanding the young adult program into a year-long engagement. Students from the professional and young adult programs also participate in workshops, film screenings and policy events that are designed to help build a professional network and a base for ongoing criminal justice reform efforts. Health Station Credible Messengers -Peer Navigators are the City's blueprint for giving everyone the chance to live a healthier life. HSA aim is to improve every community's health, especially among those groups with the worst health outcomes that live in marginalized communities. Health Station as a business of food providers looks at traditional health factors, as well as social factors, such as how many New York City is a city of neighborhoods; their diversity, History and people are what make this city so special. Our neighborhoods are also segregated by race and wealth. Differences in neighborhood resources have led to unfair health outcomes, with some New Yorkers living longer, healthier lives than others. Health Station peer mentors is the community of New York City’s Blueprint for giving everyone a healthier life. Its goal is twofold — to improve everyone’s health, and to make greater strides with groups that have the worst health outcomes, so that our city becomes a more equitable place for everyone .people in a community graduated from high school or go to jail. We developed a full two semester Public Health Credible Messenger credited Training program.
We also looked at important aspects of daily life that affect health, such as housing, employment and education. We grouped all of these indicators into four broad categories that reflect the major goals of our work. They are: Promote