Name: Food Pantry (Appointment Only)
Start: 2025-10-31T13:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-10-31T16:00:00-04:00
Location: Center for Family Life in Sunset Park

Thank You! | Celebrating Community 2025

October 27, 2025

by Abbie Kohomban News and Events Uncategorized

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your support of the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park.

You helped make Celebrating Community 2025 a huge success! It was an unforgettable night spent with friends of CFL, old and new, honoring Julie Stein Brockway’s enduring legacy.

We are thrilled to announce the establishment of the Julie Stein Brockway Innovation Fund, which will enable CFL’s next generation of leaders to power Julie’s creative vision long into the future.

“Words cannot begin to express the depth of my love and appreciation for the incredible people with whom I have partnered in this remarkable, vibrant community over the past 43 years.

I leave with my heart full to overflowing, knowing that the strong and resilient Sunset Park community and Center for Family Life will continue to thrive in the most capable hands.” – Julie Stein Brockway

With your generous support, we engage more than 20,000 children, youth, and adults through our programs offered at 14 different locations.

Here are some of CFL’s 2025 highlights:

We served 2,130+ youth through our afterschool programs and 1,600+ children through our summer day camps
We connected 1,150+ youth to summer work and service-learning opportunities, generating close to $2 million in earnings for youth and their families
We served 135,612 meals through our food pantry
We provided free immigration and legal services to 430+ community members through ActionNYC
We helped community members file nearly 6,000 tax returns with our VITA tax filing team, securing refunds totaling more than $8.7 million
We placed 190+ participants in jobs with our Adult Employment program
We have incubated 25+ cooperatives, with the Cooperative Business Development Program recently launching Cooportunity Cleaning

Your doations will ensure that the Center for Family Life continues to innovate and extend Julie’s legacy.

Current and former “Life Lines” participants and staff – accompanied by maracas of “joyful noise” from the crowd – brought a perfect ending to the night with a spirited rendition of “The Heat of Sunset Park”!

Click through our virtual journal from the event!

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

August 27, 2025

by Abbie Kohomban News and Events

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.

Celebrating Community 2023

October 17, 2023

by Kathleen Lion News and Events

On October 5th, we celebrated our annual Celebrating Community event at the Stone Park Cafe, where we honored Leroy Street Studio as well as Charlie Allen and the firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

In addition, we were thrilled to recognize the 40th anniversary of “Life Lines” Community Arts Project!

In celebration of the nationally-recognized program Life Lines, we created a documentary showing how the program has grown since 1982 and exploring its impact on Sunset Park youth and the overall community over four decades. We would like to thank all Life Lines staff members and participants, both past and present, for being a part of this program and everyone who contributed to this documentary for making it so incredibly special!

To watch the full documentary, click here!

Our 2023 Honorees

Our Community Hero
Leroy Street Studio

In 2018 we partnered with the designers of the interim Sunset Park Library, Leroy Street Studio, who collaborated with participants in our Life Lines Visual Arts Troupe to create a welcoming and vibrant space with the use of art. In 2021, the library was recognized as one of the winners of the Library Building Design Award, one of only five libraries selected in the United States.

We are so glad that Leroy Street Studio has remained a dedicated partner to Center for Family Life in Sunset Park and are honored to have worked on such an important community project together.

Our Corporate Hero
Charlie Allen & Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

After becoming an independent organization, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park sought the expertise of Charlie Allen and his team at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP on our governance project. This project was a complex and time-consuming undertaking and we would like to thank Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Charlie Allen for providing exceptional pro bono service to our organization.

Special Acknowledgements

Thank you to our Board of Directors, esteemed guests State Senator Andrew Gounardes, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, Congressional Field Representative Mayra Molina from the office of Congressman Dan Goldman, Deputy Borough President Kim Council, Deputy Commissioner Susan Haskell form the Department of Youth and Community Development, Deputy Commissioner Jackie Martin from the Administration for Children’s Services, along with CFL staff members and all of those who attended and supported our event.

We are so grateful to have such wonderful partners to help us serve the Sunset Park community!

Save the Date for Celebrating Community 2023

September 5, 2023

by Kathleen Lion News and Events

We are thrilled to announce that we will be holding our Celebrating Community 2023 event in-person on October 5th from 6-8pm at the Stone Park Cafe in Park Slope, Brooklyn!

Please join us in honoring Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP for their dedication to pro bono service in our community and Leroy Street Studio for their work on our neighborhood library project and continued partnership.

We are also excited that at this year’s event, we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of “Life Lines” Community Arts Project!

You can purchase tickets for the event by clicking the ticket link above.