The COPP Project
Blackberry Productions’ (BP’s) Communities Organizing for Partnership in Peace (COPP) project brings youth, civilians, and police together to build bridges of respect and trust.
Recognizing the tensions and mistrust prevalent in an increasingly gentrified city, particularly between law enforcement and Black and Brown youth, Blackberry Productions has devised an intervention strategy called Communities Organizing for Partnership in Peace (COPP). Merging theatre techniques and communication skills, this initiative seeks to foster positive relationships between police and youth in workshops and community forums. Launched in 2021 as a collaboration between the NYPD Community Affairs Division, BP, and New Professional Theatre, COPP was greenlit by then, Community Affairs Chief Jeffrey Maddrey. Since then, we have successfully engaged scores of officers, young adults, and community members. Devised for police and youth aged 17 to 24, Blackberry Productions workshops employ theater techniques, communication skills, storytelling and mindfulness activities to capture and share participants ’ perspectives. Through these structures members begin finding common ground, fostering mutual acceptance and respect, ultimately mitigating against the use of overly aggressive community policing. COPP embodies a "bottom-up" approach, engaging both police and community, with the potential to spark system-wide policy change. As policing reforms unfold and societal circumstances evolve, facilitated interactions between groups can stimulate groundbreaking dialogue, transitioning both police officers and residents from isolation to a shared context of mutual respect and cooperation, leveraging art as an instrument of healing. |