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Celebrating Community 2023

by 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!

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May: Life Lines Community Arts Project Presents “TOGETHER ON 40TH”

by News and EventsYouth and Community Development & School Partnerships
Life Lines performing "Too Much To Do Blues" in this year's spring show "TOGETHER ON 40TH"
Life Lines performing "Too Much To Do Blues" in this year's spring show "TOGETHER ON 40TH"

“Life Lines” Community Arts Project is a free, nationally-recognized year- round arts and leadership program for youth, ages 10-21, that brings together the arts, education and social work to engage young people in group experiences that promote individual growth, encourage mutual aid, develop leadership and build community.

Each year, Life Lines presents an improvisational play that brings to life the struggles and vitality of young people and families in our diverse neighborhood. Although there is a skeletal outline of scenes, there is no written script for the final show. Instead, the characters play out their situations in improvised dialogue that changes from performance to performance.

Dance Troupe - "Out Here On My Own"
Dance Troupe - "Out Here On My Own"

For the spring show, participants share their ideas, feelings and experiences with staff, which are then integrated into original pieces for the production. Students build their dance, vocal and improvisational acting skills before participating in a three-day rehearsal retreat in February in upstate New York to develop core content for the show. A second three-day rehearsal retreat in April brings together the dances, songs, ensemble pieces, scenery and props created by all of the Life Lines Groups and Troupes. Finally, after three months of intense creative collaboration and rehearsal, participants are ready to perform their final show in six matinee and evening performances for school and community audiences!

Mari and Delilah facetiming with Abuela
Mari and Delilah facetiming with Abuela
Franco and his son Eliot
Franco and his son Eliot

In celebration of Life Lines 40th anniversary, “TOGETHER ON 40TH” presents a glimpse into a lively 40th Street apartment building in Brooklyn, home to the extended León family and a few other “chosen” family members. We meet the four adult León siblings, their teenage children, the building super and his son, a neighbor who just moved in, and an up-and-coming social media influencer. We follow their day-to-day struggles and triumphs during the course of a school year as they encounter economic stress, manage their fears and anxiety, and navigate life transitions while striving to stay connected to the people they love. Family and friends turn to imaginative worlds and places of the mind to find levity and to fortify themselves to face the future.

Our heroes are haunted by the ghost of their past social media posts as they take on the adventure of adulthood
Our heroes are haunted by the ghost of their past social media posts as they take on the adventure of adulthood

The scenes, songs, dances and fantastical departures from reality illustrate that relationships have the power to carry us through life’s challenges. From our building on 40th Street, we see how individuals and communities– both here in Sunset Park and the world over– are sustained, nurtured and strengthened by the bonds we share with each other.

You're Not Alone: Friendship support - Naomi & Delilah
You're Not Alone: Friendship support - Naomi & Delilah

We are thrilled that our performances reached 1600 middle and high school students and over 500 family and community members. We are deeply grateful to our participants, parents, family members, school and community partners for joining us for this momentous milestone and for reminding us…

“We are strengthened by each other,
We are strengthened by our care,
We are strengthened by the moments that we share.”
(lyrics from “I Will Be There” finale)

Photo by: Pankaj Khadka/Leroy Street Studio

June: Our neighborhood library in Sunset Park has been honored by the 2021 National American Institute of Architects (AIA) and American Library Association (ALA) as one of the winners of the Library Building Design Award

by News and EventsYouth and Community Development & School Partnerships

We are thrilled to announce that our interim neighborhood library in Sunset Park has been honored by the 2021 National American Institute of Architects (AIA) and American Library Association (ALA) as one of the winners of the Library Building Design Award – only one of five libraries selected in the United States! The temporary Sunset Park Library, nestled in the former Sunset Park courthouse on Fourth Avenue, was designed by Leroy Street Studio and decorated with exquisite work by Center for Family Life high school students!

High school students in CFL’s Life Lines Visual Arts Troupe partnered with the Leroy Street Studio in a collaborative process of art, design, and installation to devise a method of providing shade for library-goers on brighter days. The team constructed a unique cascade of paper mobiles that hang across the large, vaulted windows. The shapes, made bold when backlit by the sun, speak to themes of togetherness, vitality, and natural beauty.

The National American Institute of Architects (AIA), an organization to support quality architecture founded in 1857, focuses on cultivating and encouraging the creation of spaces that center community wellness and vibrancy. According to a statement from their organization, the award acknowledges those libraries that embody “design achievement, including a sense of place, purpose, ecology, environmental sustainability and of history.” 
 
 Despite its status as an interim library, the space is a glowing achievement in Sunset Park. Shawn Watts, a partner at Leroy Street Studio, expressed that the studio is “honored to have played a part in creating this vibrant community hub and thrilled to see how the work of the students from the Center for Family Life elevated the space.”
 
 
The interim Sunset Park Library fulfills a variety of needs with versatile arrangements of space and equipment that serve our diverse community. Leroy Street Studio ensured that the voices of the Sunset Park community, BPL staff, and elected officials were heard in imagining the space. A spokesperson for Brooklyn Public Library noted that the library design, with the window installation “comprised of screens and sculptural mobiles, made in collaboration with students from the Center for Family Life…truly reflects the community it serves, making this award even more special.”