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COURIER LIFE, APRIL 1-7, 2022
Giving back to the community
Red Hook and Gowanus youth organizations to receive $1M from federal budget
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
Eleven youth and educational
organizations based in Red Hook
and Gowanus are receiving $1
million in federal funding to
boost their programming, Rep.
Nydia Velázquez announced on
Tuesday.
More than 250 organizations
initially applied to receive the
funding, Velázquez said at a
press conference, but the money
was only supposed to be allocated
to 10 groups. Then, a collective
of youth-based organizations
approached her with a new idea.
“They said, we have been
having discussions among community
based organizations in
Red Hook about creating a collaborative,”
she said. “I said, OK,
right there, that’s the way to go. If
we decided to come together as a
community … we then will have
a holistic approach with different
visions but with the same intentions.
And that is to take care of
our kids in our community.”
The money will be divided
among the organizations, including
the Red Hook Art Project,
Red Hook Community Justice
Center, and Cora Dance, and distributed
by local cultural center
Pioneer Works.
“These nonprofits serve working
class families including
at-risk youth,” Velázquez said.
“This initiative will serve public
housing residents and open educational
pathways in areas that
need them most.”
One of those organizations is
Red Hook Rise, founded as an after
school basketball program by
Ray Hall and his brother, Earl, in
1991.
“We created a books and basketball
program, just using basketball
as a tool to get the kids to
come in and read,” Hall said. “We
had huge success with kids who
were usually sitting in the back
of the classroom, we got letters
from all the principals around
here about the kids sitting up in
the front of the class and participating.”
Hall and his brother both
work full-time and aren’t paid
for the work they do at Red Hook
Rise — and they wouldn’t want
to be, Hall told Brooklyn Paper.
The funding the organization receives
will provide opportunities
to expand their economic development
and training programs,
setting up kids for financial success
and stability in the future.
“Every kid is not going to
make it to college,” he said. “I
was one of those kids who never
wanted to go to college. When my
father died, I had to get a job. My
mom was struggling with three
boys, so going to school wasn’t an
option for me. I learned a trade, I
learned electrical and plumbing.
That’s what I would like to see
happen out here.”
Working alongside the Red
Hook Initiative and other local
groups, Hall wants to create apprenticeship
programs where
kids can learn trade skills so
they can take care of themselves
even if they don’t have the opportunity
to attend college – or don’t
want to.
One project that’s particularly
needed by the community
is the local expansion of Heartshare,
a citywide human services
organization with a Cornerstone
program at Wyckoff Gardens, a
public housing development in
Boerum Hill.
The community center at
Gowanus Houses has been shuttered
for 17 years, even as residents
and city government officials have
advocated for its reopening. The
New York City Public Housing
Authority and the city allocated
millions of dollars for its renovation
and reopening in 2019, but the
much-needed center has remained
closed. The same year, money was
promised to renovate the Wyckoff
Gardens Community Center, but
a contractor for the project was
never found.
Late last year, the city council
committed to getting both
centers up and running as part
of the Gowanus rezoning agreement.
But the city and NYCHA take
a long time to make good on
their promises, Theresa Davis,
vice president of the Gowanus
Houses Tenant Association, told
Brooklyn Paper. Knowing that
money is headed to a nonprofit
with roots in the community and
plans to expand their services is
promising, she said, because the
children in the neighborhood
have limited options for programs
and activities after school.
“My kids are grown, 35 and 37,
but to see the other kids out there
not having nothing to do, just getting
in trouble,” she said. “I see
the work that they do in Wyckoff.
And I’m happy, because some of
our kids go to Wyckoff. I want to
see that in Gowanus. That would
be so awesome.”
Bundling together the information
and programs in Red
Hook is Red Hook Hub, a website
operated by the nonprofit Red
Hook Initiative. That site will get
a boost with the money allocated
to the Initiative, said Maureen
Friar, the org’s Interim Chief Operating
Officer.
“We put it in the application
as a collaboration of all the organizations
here,” Friar said. “And
I think that really speaks to the
power of collaboration and community.”
A young student voiced her support Red Hook’s myriad arts and education programs
as Rep. Nydia Velázquez announced $1 million is headed to 11 organizations
in the neighborhood. Photo by Kirstyn Brendlen
“This initiative will
serve public housing
residents and open
educational pathways
in areas that need
them most.”