New York Times Article: "Newburgh Where Gangs, Violence Reign" by Ray Rivera
 

Torrance Harvey, History Teacher at Newburgh Free Academy worked for several years to bring about change in a Character Education Class called "Council For Unity" and it caught national attention when the New York Times came to shadow the class for two weeks.
 

Excerpt:
 

A sense of how embedded the gang culture has become can be gleaned at the local high school, the Newburgh Free Academy.

Two years ago, Torrance Harvey, a social studies teacher, and Mark Wallace, the school’s violence prevention coordinator, created a class where students could come and talk about issues important to them. During a recent session, Mr. Harvey drew a diagram on the board with the word “community” in the center and asked the class to define it. The students rattled off the usual institutions: churches, schools, law enforcement. But high on the list they also called out “gang-bangers,” “drug dealers” and “crackheads.”
 

Central to the problem, Mr. Harvey and Mr. Wallace said, is the lack of jobs and activities available to young people. The city has no supermarkets, one Boys and Girls Club that is closed on weekends and a virtually nonexistent bus system, leaving young people without cars too far from the only steady source of employment, at regional malls well outside of town.
 

Torrance Harvey was just recently nominated and ELECTED Distinguish Alumni Award at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, New York!
 

City Councilman Harvey attended Mount Saint Mary College for Graduate Professional School of Education with a concentration on History!