At this week's Round Table, Madeline and Kenisha did something a bit different for the podcast, along with Elijah from the Department of Youth & Community Development and Caroline from NYCVotes We Power NYC: interviewed Danny Frost, Senior Advisor and Director of Communications for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for an episode of We Got Issues on Facebook Live. We Got Issues is a monthly partnership of YVote/Next Generation Politics, DYCD, and NYCVotes that illuminates what different elected officials do, seeking to build voter and citizen knowledge AND to humanize the office and officials. In this episode, we talked about the role of the District Attorney (spoiler alert: it’s NOT to nail em and jail em), Danny’s responsibilities as the chief spokesperson and Public Information Officer of such a high stakes office, what’s different working as an attorney for government vs a private firm, and how the DA’s office works to engage youth and leverage Community Partnerships. We also talked about pressing current events, like how the District Attorney’s office dealt with arrests of protesters during the Black Lives Matter Protest in 2020 and how Danny has seen criminal justice in New York change over the course of his tenure. The role of the DA isn’t to win, it’s to seek justice--which aligns with our ethos at Next Generation Politics as well--so it was an exciting episode for us. Thank you for listening!
