Kips Bay celebrates milestone at Yankee Stadium
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
The Bronx Kips Bay Boys and Girls
Club celebrated its 50th anniversary at
Yankee Stadium on Friday, November
15.
More than 250 guests attended the
anniversary gala in the Yankee Stadium
Legends Room for an awards
show highlighting recipients from
each decade of the club’s four signature
programs: basketball, the aquatics
program, performing arts and
youth of the year.
Additionally, four families from the
fi rst decade of Kips Bay (1969 to 1979)
were also awarded for their contributions
to their communities and shared
experiences of the club’s impact on
their children’s lives.
Dan Quintero, executive director of
Kips Bay, along with Tony Award-nominated
actor, Christopher Neal Jackson,
entertained guests at the venue.
“It’s such an honor to think that
for fi ve decades we’ve been able to really
develop and pour into children’s
lives and help create individuals that
have gone on to be successful and respectfully
serve their communities,”
Quintero said. “That’s what we’re all
about.”
A 104-year-old organization, the
Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club was
founded in 1915 in the Kips Bay neighborhood
in Manhattan, where residents
were concerned about unsuper-
vised children and teenagers roaming
through the neighborhood.
The Kips Bay Neighborhood Association
began offering sports and
other activities to keep the youngsters
busy and off the streets.
In 1969, the club relocated to the
east Bronx to meet the borough’s needs
for services to young people, opening
the Lucille Palmaro Clubhouse at 1930
Randall Avenue in Castle Hill.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, NOVEMBER 2 30 9-DECEMBER 5, 2019 BTR
Kips Bay attracted the community’s
children and teenagers and continued
to grow to accommodate new members
and more program offerings. In 1988,
its name was formally changed to the
Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club to refl
ect that it was serving girls, as well
as boys.
Kips Bay has since expanded opening
nine locations in the borough serving
more than 10,000 children each
year.
For the past 50 years in the Bronx,
Kips Bay has conducted programs that
cover education, recreation, sports,
youth empowerment, job readiness
training, digital arts, music and performing
arts.
“About 50 to 55 percent of the children
we serve are from single parent
homes, and Kips Bay Boys and
Girls Club becomes a surrogate mom
to many young people who need to be
empowered and guided between 3 and
9 p.m. everyday,” Quintero said. “Parents
feel very safe about the fact that
while they’re at work, their youngsters
are taking advantage of all the
sports and programs that the club has
to offer.”
In 1976, the club added a swimming
pool and two new classrooms, and in
1984 an outdoor recreation center and
a 9,000 square-foot auditorium became
the home of its performing arts program.
In 2000, the club introduced the
Coudert Sports Complex, which includes
an ice rink, basketball court,
baseball fi eld and air dome for indoor
soccer and games.
Now, they’re on the cusp of another
major expansion project so that more
children can attend Kips Bay.
“We just look forward to continuing
success here and impacting children’s
lives,” Quintero said.
Dan Quintero (l.) with alumni from 1969 KipsBay’s inaugural year, Iglesia brothers, Fred
Brown Aubrey Adams and Kevin Graves.
Photo courtesy of Dan Quintero/Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club