Lifting Up Riverside Through Conversation and Action

Maybe you’ve heard the motivational tale about the kid who was throwing starfish back into the ocean so they wouldn’t drown, when someone happened by and asked why he bothered to help the starfish, when they would just wash ashore again. In this story, the kid answers by saying that being thrown back into the ocean matters for that one starfish.

Deputy Suffolk County Police Commissioner Risco Mention-Lewis has little use for such motivational tales. In her world, those starfish learn to walk back into the ocean on their own five arms.

Ms. Lewis was in Riverside Tuesday night to explain her work on the Council of Thought and Action, a series of support groups she’s started in Hempstead, Wyandanch and North Bellport.

In COTA meetings, she explained, community members including ex-convicts, police officers and community leaders, sit down in a room and talk, as equals about their plans to build a better life.   Read More...