Damon Bacote

Mr. Bacote is the Deputy Commissioner for The Office of Youth Justice at DCJS. In this role, he oversees and manages the Office of Youth Justice (OYJ).  OYJ focuses its work in several areas including, but not limited to: violence prevention and reduction including gang and youth violence; restorative justice, reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system; trauma and healing, implicit bias and its impact on the justice system and building police and community partnerships. New York State SNUG is also a program under OYJ. 

 Prior to joining OYJ, Mr. Bacote was the Director of Training for the New York State SNUG program, an anti-gun violence initiative, where he was responsible for providing continuous evaluation, including curriculum development and mentoring to a team of over 75 violence prevention personnel across eleven sites.  Before Mr. Bacote’s position at DCJS, he worked in community-based programs ranging from gang prevention to workforce development.

Damon has been married for 15 years and has two beautiful children, a daughter (14) and a son (11), who keep him busy with their multiple sports.  Mr. Bacote received his bachelor’s of Liberal Arts from Thomas Edison State College and has a Master’s degree in Social Work from Lehman College.  He is also a  licensed social worker.

Damon’s guiding principle is to assist his team to capitalize on their best asset, life experience, to build and sustain strong communities.