Resilience In the Era Of “Raise The Age”: Serving Young People (& Families) Involved In the Youth Justice System In New York City

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Stacye Desamours is the Citywide Youth Part Director at the New York City Department of Probation (DOP) and has more than 30 years of experience working with young people and families in community supervision and child welfare. In her current role, she oversees intake, diversion, and pre-disposition intensive community monitoring teams that support the implementation of the state-wide legislation to Raise the Age (RTA). Ms. Desamours has experience working with families as a foster care caseworker at NYC’s Administration for Children Services and in various roles at DOP. Currently, she leads RTA teams in all 5 boroughs where she provides leadership and direction through coaching, mentoring, and training to 30+ officers and supervisors. Ms. Desamours was also a key partner in the development of the new RTA law in 2018 and helped to guide new policies and procedures related to probation practice by serving as a committee member in the re-writing of the New York State Juvenile Probation Intake Rules and Regulations for OPCA. Ms. Desamours is a key stakeholder representing DOP through cross-agency collaboration and engagement with community organizations as a means of creating positive outcomes for young people and their families. Ms. Desamours is a graduate of New York Institute of Technology NY. BA Behavioral Sciences, MPS Human Relations-Clinical Counseling.

Gineen A. Gray is the Deputy Commissioner of Juvenile Operations for the New York City Department of Probation (DOP) where she has worked with young people and their families for over 30 years. In her role, Ms. Gray oversees all agency policies, practices, and day-to-day operations for young people (ages 12 to 18). Ms. Gray is devoted to exploring, developing, and implementing innovative reforms that promote the well-being of young people and families to prevent deeper system involvement. During her tenure as Deputy Commissioner, Ms. Gray has guided DOP’s implementation of state-wide youth initiates (e.g., Raise the Age, Close 2 Home, etc.) and infused strength-based philosophies that best engage young people (e.g., YouthThrive). She has fostered a supervision philosophy that promotes individual Credible Messenger (CM) mentoring for young people on supervision (e.g., AIM Program) and CMs that support the families (e.g., Parent Support Program). Ms. Gray serves as an adjunct instructor at John Jay College’s School for Criminal Justice and recently completed a leadership certification for Senior Executives in State and Local Government from the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Lincoln University and a Master’s in Urban Affairs at Queens College, City University of New York.

Mathew Lynch is the Director of Policy & Program Innovation at the New York City Department of Probation (DOP). He is responsible for developing evidence-based policies and programs that support young people and their families in building stronger and safer communities. His work is focused on the holistic and equitable treatment of young people involved in the justice system; utilizing real-time data and evaluation methodologies to inform DOP’s implementation culturally responsive practices. As a part of his portfolio, Mathew trains and coaches’ probation staff and stakeholders on the application of inclusive supervision approaches and implements initiatives that focus on restorative practices, credible messengers, and youth voice to ensure strength-based and culturally responsive principles are embedded. Additionally, he works to engage department staff to collaborate in strong community partnerships that support and provide services to a range of specialized populations across New York City – including LGBTQ+ youth on probation. Previously, Mathew worked as the Juvenile Implementation Manager for Raise the Age at DOP and as a Research Associate in the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center in Washington, DC. His research spans specialized youth programming, credible messenger mentoring, treatment alternatives and diversion, procedural justice practices, and justice-related technologies.