Youth and Community Development & School Partnerships Archives

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.

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.

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.

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.

Save the Date: The Extra Mile 2025

April 16, 2025

by Nicolette Natale News and Events Youth and Community Development & School Partnerships

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.

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

February: College, Career & Community Building Day

February 28, 2025

by Nicolette Natale News and Events Youth and Community Development & School Partnerships

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!

September: Summer Youth Employment Program

October 1, 2024

by Kathleen Lion News and Events Youth and Community Development & School Partnerships

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!

August: Summer Camp in Sunset Park!

August 30, 2024

by Kathleen Lion News and Events Youth and Community Development & School Partnerships

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!

Center for Family Life

Posts in category: Youth and Community Development & School Partnerships

September: Summer Youth Employment Program

Save the Date: The Extra Mile 2025

February: College, Career & Community Building Day

September: Summer Youth Employment Program

August: Summer Camp in Sunset Park!

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