White Plains Common Council Authorizes Funding for Youth Causes
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The White Plains Common Council held its first meeting of 2023 last week with many of its agenda items related to youth activities and causes.
One of its pro forma resolutions involved renewing an agreement with the White Plains School District for the Police Department to provide two school resource officers.
Councilwomen Jennifer Puja and Nadine Hunt-Robinson commented on the importance of police officers developing trusting relationships with students.
“They’re not just there as an additional security person. It’s another adult they (students) can trust,” Puja said. “It helps create a positive relationship with our law enforcement.”
“White Plains had resource officers before it became mainstream,” Hunt-Robinson said. “They develop relationships with the children. They bond with the kids. It’s part of the guardian mindset. I’m proud of White Plains continuing this tradition.”
The Common Council also approved seven resolutions pertaining to the White Plains Youth Bureau, which Councilwoman Victoria Presser praised for its positive impact on the lives of city youth.
Most of the resolutions centered on the Youth Bureau receiving grants for programming, such as $139,005 from the Westchester/Putnam Workforce Investment Board to continue providing youth employment and $207,579 from the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) for the bureau’s Project Hope Program.
At the start of the meeting, Mayor Tom Roach presented White Plains High School senior Sophia Farrell with the Youth of the Year award.
Roach spoke of Farrell’s leadership in the community, her energy, compassion for those less fortunate and “can-do-attitude.”
Farrell plans to attend Syracuse University in the fall and aspires to go to law school.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
