FAQ
What is NYC Community Cleanup?
NYC Community Cleanup is a new citywide initiative designed to address neighborhood hot spots and eyesores.
How does it work?
NYC Community Cleanup puts low-level offenders (arrested for minor offenses such as vandalism, shoplifting, and public drunkenness) to work repairing conditions of disorder in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. NYC Community Cleanup partners with community groups and government agencies to identify appropriate cleanup projects, such as removing trash from an empty lot or cleaning a local park. NYC Community Cleanup staff conduct presentations at churches, schools and other community locations about the group's work.
What are the project's goals?
The goal is to create meaningful community restitution projects that emphasize the values of immediacy (tying a crime to its consequences), visibility (showing New Yorkers that the justice system is responding to neighborhood problems), and accountability (ensuring high compliance rates). NYC Community Cleanup is an effort to go to scale with the model of targeted community restitution originally pioneered by the City of New York and the New York State Unified Court System in three award-winning community courts: the Midtown Community Court, the Red Hook Community Justice Center, and Bronx Community Solutions.
Who funds NYC Community Cleanup?
NYC Community Cleanup is supported by criminal justice funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. NYC Community Cleanup is operated as a project of the Center for Court Innovation in collaboration with the Mayor's Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator.
Who determines the offenders' sentences?
Community service sentences are determined by judges, as part of a guilty plea to a low-level offense.
What is the typical length of a sentence?
Most community service sentences range from between one to 10 days.
How are the offenders supervised?
Offenders are supervised during their entire seven hours of community service each day by a member of the Cleanup staff. Cleanup staff enforce program rules, ensure that projects are completed, and maintain written attendence records.
Are the offenders offered links to social services?
Cleanup staff encourage all program participants to sign-up for free, voluntary services, and in many cases program staff can escort a participant to meet with a case manager after the day's community service assigment has been completed. The most commonly requested services include job training and substance abuse counseling.
Can someone from NYC Community Cleanup speak to my organization?
Yes. Cleanup staff are eager to speak with community boards, neighborhood and tenant associations, church groups, and other community based organizations. Simply contact us at notify@cleanupnyc.org or e-mail your borough manager.
If I have a suggestion for a cleanup project, whom should I contact?
We are always eager to receive suggestions. Simply contact us at notify@cleanupnyc.org or e-mail your borough manager. You can also visit the borough-specific section of this website to see where we have cleaned recently.