We are delighted to announce that we will be holding our annual staff recognition Extra Mile event in-person on Tuesday, June 10th, from 6-8pm at L’Wren in Sunset Park, Brooklyn!
Please join us here in Sunset Park to celebrate Center for Family Life’s “Life Lines” partnership with public schools, MS 136 and MS 821. Our unique collaboration engages students in interdisciplinary projects that blend academic subjects with the arts to build community in the classroom and enrich student learning.
We are grateful for this partnership and are excited to recognize the MS 136 and MS 821 principals and our Life Lines teaching artists. We look forward to celebrating decades of creative collaboration!
Watch our “A Reflection on 40 Years | Life Lines Community Arts Project Documentary” above to learn more about our partnership which has spanned four decades.
On February 6th, 2025, Center for Family Life hosted our 16th annual College, Career & Community-Building (CCC) Day at Sunset Park High School.
CCC Day provides 1300+ SPHS students of all grades with engaging and informative experiences to support their college and career readiness and to strengthen their relationships within the school community. This year’s CCC Day included college panels, college jeopardy, career conversations, and team building activities.
College Panels for 10th-12th graders featured 21 college students, most of whom were SPHS alumni. The panelists provided inspiration and personal anecdotes while answering questions from current SPHS students about their experiences in college.
College Jeopardy challenged teams of 9th graders to pool their current knowledge in a spirited game while introducing them to new information about the college application process.
Career Conversations engaged the entire SPHS student body in small group discussions with a record number of 86 volunteer career guests. Our guests introduced students to career options in law, health, entertainment and the arts, human services, and technology. We were so honored that five SPHS alumni joined us as career guests this year!
Hear what students learned from career conversations, in their own words:
“There are a lot of unique jobs you can choose from.”
“It is ok to not know what you are going to do after high school.”
“When you get to college, your career ideas might change, and that is ok.”
“Do something that makes you happy and you’re passionate about.”
Students were also refreshed by the career guests’ positive energy, noting:
“It was great seeing how career guests genuinely enjoy their jobs.”
“They highlighted the vast opportunity the world has to offer.”
“They asked questions and genuinely wanted to hear our opinions.”
“They gave REAL advice that was actually good.”
Thank you again to our wonderful career guests, who braved traveling on a snowy morning in February to participate in CCC Day.
Community-Building in the gym brought out the fun spirit of SPHS students and teachers as they joyfully participated in small group challenges. Contagious laughter and cheering echoed through the halls and capped off an action-packed day at Sunset Park High School
We are grateful to the college panelists, career guests, students, and CFL and SPHS staff who made this year’s CCC Day so successful and special!
Each year, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park coordinates paid summer work opportunities for youth ages 14-24 through the Department of Youth and Community Development’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). These work opportunities prepare youth for future careers by giving them the tools they need to build essential job readiness skills while earning money for their families and giving back to their community.
We are thrilled that this summer we connected over 1,150 youth to work opportunities, generating over $2,110,000 in earnings for youth and their families!
A total of 318 younger youth, ages 14-15, in ten cohorts participated in Project Based Learning (PBL) activities that developed their leadership skills and advanced their understanding of civic engagement. Six groups engaged in social justice projects and four groups promoted youth development through intergenerational workshops with elementary-aged children. Our PBL youth gained confidence as they collaborated and developed their capacity to plan and implement innovative community projects.
Social justice participants researched issues related to mental health, homelessness, poverty, and gender and racial inequality. They decided to center their project on providing support for newly arrived families who are facing poverty and homelessness. Social justice participants connected with CHiPS, a non-profit soup kitchen and food pantry in Park Slope. Participants worked together to create, package, and deliver more than 360 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to community members in need. Later, participants designed a map and brochure for newly arrived families with information on local shelters, clinics, employment services, family activities, and food pantries.
This summer, we placed 854 older youth, ages 16-24 at 79 worksites in Brooklyn, giving them the opportunity to gain experience and explore careers in many different fields of work.
At one worksite, Groundswell, youth apprentice artists created beautiful large-scale murals to bring key community issues to life and uplift the neighborhood. These young artists immersed themselves in a collective, start-to-finish public art project, while gaining design skills and forming lasting friendships.
At the historic Green-Wood Cemetery, participants located, mapped, cleaned, and restored broken graves and monuments. SYEPs also led tours for the public and gave presentations about the cemetery and their work.
SYEPs also served as counselors at summer programs across the neighborhood. At Center for Family Life, SYEP camp counselors worked alongside our dedicated year-round staff to engage children in a range of creative educational enrichment activities. SYEP camp counselors formed positive relationships with younger children while leading field trips, engaging in intergenerational workshops, and collaborating on visual and performing arts projects.
To celebrate the end of this summer’s program, Maimonides Medical Center held their 2024 Summer Youth Program Recognition Ceremony. This year, they recognized CFL participants Jenny Vazquez-Flores and Arno Zheng, for their outstanding service at the hospital. We are so proud of Jenny and Arno for going above and beyond this summer.
Thank you to all of the worksites with whom we partnered with this summer and to our wonderful SYEP participants for their incredible work!
This month, our newsletter highlights the action-packed days of our CFLSP summer camp programs. We are thrilled that this summer, we served a total of 1,814 children from Kindergarten through 8th grade! Our full-day, 5 day per week camps ran in July and August and engaged children in a diverse range of activities that promoted social, physical, academic and artistic development and provided opportunities to practice and master skills while having fun and building community.
Here are some of this summer’s highlights!
Campers engaged in many hands-on art projects led by CFL Arts Specialists. For one project at our PS 1 camp called “A Summer Souvenir”, campers fostered creativity by designing unique and colorful friendship bracelets, that will be a token by which they can remember a fun-filled summer.
All CFL camps take weekly field trips to museums, parks, and other cultural, recreational and educational sites throughout NYC. Above, campers from PS 516 visit the American Museum of Natural History.
Four groups of campers from PS 169 traveled to Brooklyn Urban Garden School (BUGS) twice per week to tend the outdoor gardens and harvest produce from the hydroponics lab. Campers created their own herb satchels, sampled indoor and outdoor grown cucumbers, learned how to weigh produce, and took home fresh vegetables to their families! This fun and engaging project taught campers sustainable urban food growing practices in a hands-on, delicious and nutritious way.
A highlight of our camp program is our annual summer Olympics. With the goals of promoting sportsmanship and building community, campers engaged in healthy competition through water relays, classic field games, sports, obstacle courses and more.
Campers also explored their creativity in dance, music, acting, and visual arts activities with culminating performances delighting family and community members! Above, the PS 516 campers perform in an original show entitled “CFL through the Decades.”
In addition to our summer camp participants, we are thrilled that 397 young people gained paid work experience as SYEP camp counselors through the NYC DYCD Summer Youth Employment Program.
With love from all of us at Center for Family Life in Sunset Park to everyone who made this a most magical and memorable summer!
With generous funding provided by the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), Center for Family Life launched our first-ever cross-site soccer league in February of 2024. Our free program operated across 6 Center for Family Life sites in Sunset Park at PS 1, PS 503/506, PS 94, PS 169, PS 516, and PS 971. Our Neighborhood Youth Soccer Program served elementary and middle school youth, who otherwise may not have had the financial resources to join a soccer team or the experience to be selected for a competitive league.
At the start of the program, CFL staff organized 14 co-ed teams of youth, from ages 10 to 13. All participants were registered on a first-come-first-serve basis and no prior experience was required.
Staff also recruited high school students to assist in implementing sports practices, games, and other activities for participants. This provided high schoolers with the opportunity to build leadership skills and to earn an incentive of up to $400 while serving as mentors to younger youth in the program.
During the first two months of the league, participants attended weekly practices where they received skill-based instruction from CFL coaches, who were trained by Street Soccer USA, a national nonprofit. In addition to offering coaching and safety trainings, Street Soccer USA provided neutral referees for cross-site games.
Official games kicked off in April, as teams faced off against other sites. The league centered on fellowship and community-building, allowing youth to engage in friendly competition with no scores being recorded. In addition, all participants played for equal time, regardless of athletic ability or skill level. This created a safe and inclusive environment, where all players felt valued and appreciated.
Each game was highly attended by family members who came to support youth and to cheer on their teams. Throughout the season, parents shared valuable feedback that led to ongoing program improvements. They expressed how thankful they were to have this opportunity for their children. Our partnership with parents and their investment in the program’s success were a major highlight of this new initiative.
Teams enjoyed playing on professional soccer turf at Soccer Roof in Sunset Park!
After a series of cross-site games and a final grand tournament, the program came to a close with our Award Ceremony on June 7th. At the ceremony, players and their families came together and enjoyed a shared meal to celebrate the accomplishments of participants over the past several months. Players were thrilled to connect one last time with coaches and fellow teammates as they proudly collected their certificates and awards.
We are incredibly grateful to DYCD’s Neighborhood Youth Team Sports Program for funding that provided 120 young people with the opportunity to join a soccer team and gain valuable skills while strengthening our community.
We are eager to build on the enthusiastic engagement of youth and families and on the success of this year’s inaugural soccer league. We appreciate any donations to support our capacity to continue cross-site sports programming in the future.
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