DTAP Graduation

District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, (3rd row 5th from left), Senator Eric Adams (3rd row 6th from left) and,
Judge Joseph Gubbay (3rd row 7th from left) congratulating some of KCDA's 2011 DTAP graduates.

To celebrate the achievement of Brooklyn DTAP graduates, the Kings County District Attorney’s Office sponsors a graduation ceremony every year. On this auspicious occasion, District Attorney Hynes presents the graduates with certificates acknowledging their achievement and he meets those family members and friends who have played crucial roles in the graduates’ efforts to face their drug addiction and maintain sobriety. Two or three graduates often share with the audience their unique perspectives on their struggle with drugs and their DTAP experience. In addition, the president of the Alumni Association traditionally presents an award to an outstanding DTAP alumnus or alumna of the year. Finally, a keynote speaker will often deliver an address. Past keynote speakers have included Asa Hutchinson, the former head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, and Joseph A. Califano, Jr., president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University and former United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, and Reverend Doctor Johnny Ray Youngblood, Senior Pastor of St. Paul Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn.\

Over the years, several DTAP graduates have expressed amazement that they managed to travel such a distance -- only a few years earlier, they had been either in jail or on the street running from the police, and now, they were embracing their families and friends and shaking the hand of the district attorney. The graduation ceremony brings into sharp focus the incredible achievement of the DTAP participants and the success of the DTAP program.