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A bruised schoolgirl has a pink flower over her mouth, blocking her from speaking. Bandaids and fresh scars cover her arms while silhouetted students behind her smile. “FREAK”, “UGLY,” and other words in bold and capital letters float behind her.
This is 15-year-old Yanfei Chen’s piece titled “Not a Smile – but Pain,” which won first place as part of a five-year-old program from New York City’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, HeARTwork Against Hate. The office is now trying to deepen its work with young people in the forefront, launching a program last week that awards funding for New York City students to pursue any project related to combating hate crime.
The Youth Ambassador Leadership program will provide up to 10 groups of students from ages 8 to 18 with $1,000 each to tackle a hate crime related issue in their neighborhood or school. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis.
If Yanfei wins the funding, her focus would be on stopping bullying “based on looks,” the same message reflected in her first-place winning artwork.
The Youth Ambassador Initiative has been in the works for roughly a year, said Vijah Ramjattan, executive director of the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. With Mayor Eric Adams’ recent decision to drop out of the race, it could be up to the next chief executive to keep it going.
“I think any mayor that comes in believes in youth voices,” he said. “Any person in leadership understands there is a gap, where youth voices are not elevated enough.”
Over a third of students reported their peers bullied others for their race, gender, disability, or immigration status in the 2024-25 annual school survey results, in which more than 355,500 middle and high school students participated.
The issue has gotten more pronounced recently, rising to 39% of students last year reporting that some or most students in their school harass or bully each other based on race, religion, or ethnic status compared to 14% in 2021.
The rise, however, could be in part because the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years were during the pandemic and hybrid schooling, said Prerna Arora, a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University Teachers College.
In fact, bullying for one’s identity has been “consistently high,” she said. Students have greater awareness of what bullying is in the last 15 to 20 years and more access to phones and social media that can influence survey results, Arora said. Similarly, bullying has increased more for students who are LGBTQ, students of color, or both.
“In particular, Black, LGBTQ youth have reported some of the highest level increases in bullying,” she said. At the same time, higher rates of bullying have been reported alongside an increase in white nationalism and anti-LGBTQ sentiments, Arora added.
Hate crimes are a criminal offense one commits on the basis of race, religion, ethnic background, nationality, gender identity, or disability. It involves crimes committed, like assault, vandalism, and arson.
At last week’s Youth Ambassador Leadership, students brought up trying to stop bullying based on someone’s immigration status, gender, or race. While bullying may not constitute a “hate crime,” it can lead to one, Ramjattan said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation also found that educational settings, including prekindergarten to grade 12 as well as colleges and universities, were the third most common places for hate crimes between 2018 to 2022, following homes and roadways. Within just the educational institutions, elementary and secondary schools had the highest reported hate crimes from 2018 to 2022.
At the state level, 2023 had the highest reported number of hate crimes, with over 60% from New York City, according to a report from the state’s comptroller, Tom DiNapoli.
Reported hate crimes more than doubled between 2018 and 2023, “with most attacks against Jewish, Black and gay male New Yorkers,” the report stated.
Roughly 78 students from five boroughs attended the youth leadership program’s first meeting last week to talk about hate crimes present at schools or neighborhoods. Misogyny, anti-immigration rhetoric, and mental health were a few other hot topics students discussed in roundtables.
Students like the idea of taking charge to reduce hate crimes. Manhattan high school students Max Moral and Justin Marx didn’t attend or know of last week’s meeting but project ideas poured out after hearing about the youth-led program.
Max said she would use the money to bring students together and “lead a protest against Trump.” The administration plans to cut off $36 million for magnet schools after the city refused to remove policies protecting transgender students.
Projects can include hosting hate crime webinars, art exhibits, writing op-eds, or having other community related events, Ramjattan said. There will be eight meetings before the end of the school year where students will be taught how to identify hate crimes, what to do if they are bystanders or victims, and how to report an incident. Students must attend six out of the eight meetings to qualify for the program.
Queens mom Sareena Titus said she particularly loved that students would be trained on professional development, like how to lead community events or apply for funding.
“They are our future,” she said of the students.
Ananya Chetia is a reporting intern for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Ananya at achetia@chalkbeat.org.
