PS 1 Beacon programming moves to PS 516 during renovation

Kami Nguyen

PS 1 Beacon programming moves to PS 516 during renovation
Students from nearby elementary schools played the final matches of CFL’s cross-site soccer league on a Friday night in April at PS 503/506, as families and supporters cheered them on.

For more than 30 years, Beacon programs have provided New York City with free, year-round programming, expanding public schools into community centers for sports, arts, ESL classes and more. In Sunset Park, Center for Family Life runs two Beacon sites, one historically located at PS 1 and another at PS 503/506, which together serve more than 2,800 kids in the neighborhood.

But for the foreseeable future, evening and Saturday programs from the PS 1 Beacon site are being held at PS 516, as the PS 1 building undergoes a multiyear renovation.

While the move means less floor space, program leaders remain committed to providing youth development and recreational activities, through after-school, evening, weekend and summer programs mostly for children, but also for adults. The goal is to reclaim, safeguard and enhance public spaces for community use in high-need areas.

“We really try to target that population that doesn't have the means and the resources to be able to have what everybody deserves to have as a community,” said Yasira Dorta, Center for Family Life program director at PS 503/506.

Some popular programs in Sunset Park include soccer, children’s cooking classes and theater classes in partnership with The Public Theater. Beacon also hosts The Public Theater’s yearly auditions, giving students the opportunity to audition for summer shows in Central Park, including Shakespeare in the Park.

In the summer, the sites also operate as a Summer Youth Employment Program hub, hiring more than 900 high school students for part-time jobs.

Sunset Park’s Beacon offerings are unique in that community input plays a large role in their programming. For instance, their Friday night volleyball sessions were requested by middle school participants who needed a place to play.

“We allow our community members to be like, hey, why don't you offer this? And we're like, okay, how can we first figure this out? Who can staff this? Can you bring in the population?” Dorta said. “And if we see that it is a growing population, then we make changes to our schedule to accommodate what the community wants from our program.”

Many of the roughly 400 staff members across CFL’s Beacon programs are former participants who grew up in the program themselves. This includes Dorta, as well as Yolanda Nunez and David Garcia, the co-directors of Beacon at PS 1.

Nunez moved to Sunset Park when she was 14 and first heard about Beacon programming at PS 1 from classmates in high school.

“I came, and in the auditorium they were having a Youth Day, and I connected with them immediately, and I just started coming to what was called the CIT Program, counselor-in-training,” Nunez said.

“We already have a good relationship with the principal over at 516, and she was very welcoming,” Garcia said. “It's a smaller school. We're taking a big-scale program and sticking it there now. So there's a learning curve for us. How do we continue to serve as many people as possible in a new dynamic and further away from the community members that already know the space?”

PS 516 is located at 4302 Fourth Avenue, four blocks away from PS 1. The PS 503/506 Beacon program entrance is at 343 60th Street.