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September: Summer Youth Employment Program

by News and EventsYouth and Community Development & School Partnerships

Every summer, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park coordinates paid work opportunities for youth aged 14 to 24 through the Department of Youth and Community Development’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). 

This critical program empowers young adults to explore future career paths, acquire essential job readiness skills, earn paychecks to support their families, and make a meaningful impact in their communities. 

We are incredibly proud of the 1,159 participants who generated close to $2,000,000 in earnings this summer! 

Among them, 318 Younger Youth participants, aged 14 to 15, engaged in Project-Based Learning (PBL) Groups. These groups collaboratively address community needs by creating projects focused on social justice or youth development. PBLs provide participants with opportunities to practice civic engagement and enhance their leadership skills.

This summer, PBL participants conducted five intergenerational workshops for over 100 elementary-aged students. One of these workshops was a carnival-style event at Sunset Park High School!

Other PBL participants worked with community-based organizations like Community Help in Park Slope (CHiPS) and City Meals on Wheels to address food insecurity through packaging and delivering meals.

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For our Older Youth participants, the SYEP experience begins before summer even starts!

In early June, hundreds of students attended CFL’s annual in-person Job Fair. With resumes in hand, they participated in informational interviews with a variety of worksites. Partner worksites included medical centers, political offices, arts organizations, and CFL’s own programs! This unique event helps young people discover opportunities that align with their career goals.

In total, 841 Older Youth participants, aged 16 to 24, worked at 83 different worksites across the South Brooklyn area.

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One of our newer SYEP worksites is Socceroof, an indoor space where soccer meets community through youth and adult programming. Participants got the chance to explore what a career in athletics would be like by supporting the classes, events, and pick-up games!

The Green-Wood Cemetery is a beloved worksite where SYEP participants help restore the 478-acre landmark while learning about the intersections of horticulture and history. This also included a cumulative research project presented to staff and parents.

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We even had our very own group of SYEP participants working in the Center for Family Life offices! These wonderful participants helped Community Service Staff with food vouchers, stocked the food pantry, observed benefit enrollment, and assisted with Maimonides and NYU health studies.

We extend our deepest gratitude to our partner worksites and our utmost congratulations to all SYEP participants for their amazing work! 

If you would like to support the Center for Family Life and this kind of programming, please consider making a donation today.

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August: CFLSP Summer Camp 2025

by News and Events

Center for Family Life’s campers had a spectacular summer filled with laughter and adventures! 

This year, a total of 1,618 bright and eager children from grades K-8 immersed themselves in our summer programs. For 5 action-packed days a week throughout July and August, participants were engaged in a diverse array of full-day activities that fueled their growth in social skills, physical fitness, academic exploration, and artistic expression.

Here is a peek at some of the unforgettable highlights from CFLSP Summer Camp 2025! Let’s reminisce on the joy of summer!

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Campers had a blast diving into exciting skill-building activities led by CFL staff! Their curiosity blossomed in the community garden, they fashioned t-shirts in a hands-on tie-dye session, and they channeled their inner entrepreneurs by designing their very own storefronts.

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This summer, all campers took unforgettable trips that blended fun and learning! Campers took to the field for a thrilling behind-the-scenes tour of Citi Field. They got the ultimate baseball fan experience; campers stepped inside the dugout, looked into the exclusive VIP rooms, and even met a player.

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Another highlight was visiting FDNY Engine 201 right here in Sunset Park. Campers loved climbing aboard the fire trucks, exploring the equipment, and trying out the fire extinguishers!

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The Prospect Park Zoo was a site of exploration for many campers. Participants enjoyed meeting the different animals that call the zoo home.

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Olympics are a beloved tradition at CFL Summer Camp! During this week-long event, campers don their team colors and engage in a variety of team-building and cooperative games, fostering fun, friendship, and friendly competition.

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The excitement culminates in an awards ceremony and the symbolic end-of-the-day activity, Tug of Peace.

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As is CFL camp tradition, campers celebrated the end of the season with performances, dazzling family and friends with the skills they developed in dance, music, and acting.

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Summer camp at CFL was once again filled with joy, community-building, and lasting memories.

The parent of one camper remarked that their child “came home every day excited, full of new stories and learning experiences that have clearly motivated her to keep exploring and growing”.

We are deeply grateful to the staff, families, and community partners who made this summer truly special!

If you would like to support the Center for Family Life and this kind of programming, please consider making a donation today.

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Celebrating Community 2025: Honoring Co-Executive Director Julie Stein Brockway

by News and Events
PURCHASE TICKETS

You can purchase tickets for Celebrating Community by clicking the button above or by visiting this website. 

We are thrilled to announce that our annual Celebrating Community event will take place on October 21st from 6–8 PM at 501 Union in Brooklyn, NY 11231. 

Please join us in honoring Co-Executive Director Julie Stein Brockway before her retirement (or, in her words, “rewirement”) in December 2025. 

Together, we will celebrate Julie’s leadership over the past 43 years, including the founding of the nationally-recognized “Life Lines” Community Arts Project, her decades-long advocacy alongside community members for the creation of Sunset Park High School, and the growth of free, high-quality programs that today engage 8,000 youth and family members across 11 Sunset Park schools. 

Learn more about purchasing event tickets, placing a tribute ad, and/or donating!

Watch A Reflection on 40 Years | Life Lines Community Arts Project Documentary  to learn more about Julie’s work at CFLSP and within Sunset Park over the past four decades.

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May: RISE UP

by Family and Community SupportNews and Events

In July 2024, RISE UP — Center for Family Life’s Family Enrichment Center — was launched with funding from the Administration for Children’s Services.

As the only Family Enrichment Center in Sunset Park, RISE UP offers a welcoming, safe space where community members can connect, access resources, support one another, and collaborate to build a stronger, more united community. 

For this edition of Stories from the Field, we’re celebrating some of RISE UP’s major accomplishments within their first year, including the completion of the Mural Art Co-design Project and the Weaving Connections exhibition that’s on display at Café Nube from now through August 15th!

RISE UP Mural Art Co-design Project

A guiding principle at RISE UP is to be led by community members who share a positive vision for the neighborhood. In fact, even the space of RISE UP itself was co-designed with community members who discussed everything from the color of the walls to the snacks regularly on hand. 

Most recently, over the course of six co-design sessions, 17 community members of different ages, languages, and cultures came together to co-design a mural in RISE UP’s space. They thought through various creative prompts provided by RISE UP such as “If Sunset Park were a relic in a museum, what would it be?” and wrote postcards to their future selves.

By engaging in weekly exercises individually and then sharing their stories collectively, community members quickly realized how the most beloved aspects of Sunset Park vary across generations. Some honored long-lost storefronts, while others celebrated graffiti that is in the neighborhood today. Every cherished memory or location in Sunset Park, however, highlighted the intergenerational and multicultural vibrancy within our community. 

Many thanks to RISE UP participants and staff, facilitating artist Yukiko Izumi, assisting artist Ji Yong Kim, and volunteers for all your hard work on the mural! 

Weaving Connections Exhibit at Cafe Nube 

From now through August 15th, we invite you to visit Weaving Connections, a RISE UP community weaving exhibition co-created by Sunset Park neighbors in collaboration with local art therapist Sara Rothstein and artist assistant Emily Walker.

The exhibition is on view at Café Nube (940 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232), and we encourage you to look at this year-long project community members made together. Please also support Café Nube, a local and family-owned business, with a light bite or drink as well!

To stay up to date with RISE UP, please follow us on Instagram at @RISEUPSunsetPark!

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April: Support in Schools

by Family and Community SupportNews and Events

Center for Family Life’s Support in Schools (SIS) program is wrapping up its first successful year in Sunset Park!

SIS is a Center for Family Life school-based early support initiative in partnership with NYC’s Administration for Children’s Services. We’re honored to be one of eleven organizations across the five boroughs that provides family counseling and case management services inside schools.  

Our SIS teams — counselors, advocates, and benefit specialists — partner closely with DOE staff and CFL afterschool programs to identify students facing social, emotional, or academic challenges, and work to stabilize and strengthen families. 

SIS has already accomplished so much within its first year in 10 partner schools throughout Districts 15 and 20. Over 130 families have received emotional wellness and trauma-informed support from our Spanish and Mandarin-speaking counselors, and 40 families have gained access to vital economic support services through our bilingual benefit specialists.  

By serving as a bridge connecting families from schools within Districts 15 and 20 to CFL’s main office, SIS has also introduced neighbors to the full range of resources available to them via CFL — including ESOL classes or fresh produce through our food pantry.

                                                        Celebrating care closets in District 20

Each of our five schools in District 20 now has a fully stocked “care closet” with clothing, hygiene items, food, school supplies, laundry detergent, and laundromat cards — available discreetly for any student or family in need.  

We are deeply grateful for the trust and support of our school communities and CFL’s Support in Schools. It is a privilege to continue to build upon the relationships that CFL’s afterschool programs have established in Sunset Park schools. Together, we are building a compassionate and capable team and bringing CFL’s vision to life: partnering with schools to empower families and help them thrive in Sunset Park.