City might kick in $30K for teen program

The city might contribute $30,000 to help fund the new Lights On Kingston program, which is aimed at giving teens things to do on Friday nights to help them off the streets and prevent violence.

During an online meeting Wednesday, the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee unanimously endorsed a resolution to authorize using $30,000 from the city’s contingency fund to help pay for the new program. The resolution still must be voted on by the full council, which meets again on Tuesday, May 4. Several members already have expressed their support.

Mayor Steve Noble said the $30,000 would be the city’s share of the program, which is being offered in collaboration with Ulster County and the Kingston school district. He said the county also is to provide funding, while the school district will provide space at Kingston High School and security staff.

The first year of Lights On Kingston, starting in June, would be a pilot program, Noble said.

Ulster County Human Rights Commissioner Tyrone Wilson and Nina Dawson, director of the Ulster County Youth Bureau and a former city alderwoman, said Lights On Kingston will bring a variety of programs together under one roof to provide high schoolage residents opportunities to try new things and have fun in a safe space.

Wilson said the Lights On program was developed by a high school principal in Newark, N.J., Akbar Cook, who lost three students to gun violence. He said Cook opened his school for extended hours to keep kids off the street, the program has worked well, and there have been no more killings.

“I think, looking at that program, it’s exactly what we need here,” Wilson said.

Wilson said the local program is to run for four hours on Friday nights because that is a crucial time, heading into the weekend. And he said the program will benefit not just young people, but also parents, law enforcement and other members of the community.

Wilson said the program will be free for the teens but that they and their parents will have to fill out an application. He also said that though the program is only for Kingston youths now, there is a possibility of extending it.

He also said those who participate don’t have to be current students at the high school.

“Lights On Kingston, the program, it involves a lot of good programs that are existing right now but individually,” Dawson said. “And to bring them all in one place under the roof of the high school is magical.”

Dawson said the offerings will include cooking classes, basketball, ladies’ empowerment, mentors and weight training. And the participants will be fed, she said.

“We’re actually making

it a true community thing,” Dawson said.

Lights On Kingston is to include a social club for parents, and volunteers will be sought to help run the program, Wilson said.

“This is going to be a village,” he said. “We are trying to set this village mentality, where everybody, it’s all hands on. I tell people this is not my program ... this is our program, and we’re going to need everybody at some point to put a hand in there and put arms around our kids.”