The time is now! Time to appreciate our team that is! At NYCID we love that we are able to take the time each month to show love to an extraordinary team member and let them know their hard work does not go unnoticed. 

For the month of September 2022 our Team Member of the Month is Restorative Justice Coordinator, and Mediator Brandon Baptiste.

Brandon is a natural born leader. He never ceases to amaze his team members as his roles continue to expand. He works effectively with youth as a lead peer mediation trainer as well as with adults as the principal liaison with Department of Education staff, seeking to develop the peer mediation capacity. Brandon continues to grow as a valuable contributor to our basic mediation training and our community mediation program. He has also recently become a certified mediator! Brandon embodies the motto “always learning, always teaching” with his willingness to always learn and grow. He continuously exhibits NYCID’s core value of collaboration by carrying out these tasks diligently and ensuring our programs run seamlessly.

The conflict management team met virtually when Executive Director Michael DeVito Jr presented Brandon with his award. He spoke about how the conflict management team is such a tight knit group and he is proud of the work they all accomplish. DeVito even dubbed Brandon the “dude of the month” while Assistant Director Adria Gulizia joked that Brandon needed to add that to his resume. The team spoke about how proud they are of Brandon for recently earning his mediator certification and Brandon remarked how he couldn’t have done it without his team. At the end everyone cheered Brandon on and congratulated him. 

Great job Brandon, you earned it!