Ingersoll Community Center To Open As Soon As July
After years in progress, the Ingersoll Community Center at 177 Myrtle Avenue has appeared from the outside to be finished for the past year or so (although in reality the shoddily-built floor of the gymnasium buckled before the doors could be opened). The slow pace of progress is blamed on budget cut-backs by the Bush…
After years in progress, the Ingersoll Community Center at 177 Myrtle Avenue has appeared from the outside to be finished for the past year or so (although in reality the shoddily-built floor of the gymnasium buckled before the doors could be opened). The slow pace of progress is blamed on budget cut-backs by the Bush administration. Now, thanks to an injection of $18 million by Obama into NYCHA, the center is set to open as soon as July of this year, says Council Member Letitia James, who has been working closely alongside Reverend Mark Taylor, Pastor of the Church of the Open Door, to, ahem, open the doors. The plan is for Goodwill Industries, with some assistance from the Ingersoll Tenant Association, to provide a variety of youth programs at the center for kids at both Ingersoll and the Whitman Houses. Great news for the neighborhood! GMAP
These places were such a refuge for kids like me who grew up in the projects. Every child in every hosuing project should have access to one or an alternative like the Y, JCH or Boys and Girls Club.
This was one of 25 centers built or expanded by NYCHA. I surveyed a bunch of them late last year – lots of very nice community space. There’s an expecially awesome one in the, I believe, Gravesend Houses Unfortunately, when work was almost completed, NYCHA began to have community center defunding problems across the board. As per this linked article, City Council arranged for funding through DYCD.
http://www.nynp.biz/index.php/breaking-news/242-city-saves-25-nycha-community-centers-beacons-to-run-satellite-programs-
I believe it never opened because the city cut all funding last year for community centers at housing projects. This is good news indeed.