Renovated pool at Kings Bay Y is part of the center’s renewal. Photo courtesy of Kings Bay Y
By 2006, following several years of growth in the neighborhood, young families had poured into the greater Sheepshead Bay area in Brooklyn, reflecting a diverse group of Russian-speaking and Israeli immigrants, Sephardic and modern Orthodox children and parents.
But the programs offered by the local Kings Bay YM-YWHA, a UJA-Federation of New York beneficiary agency, had not changed with the changing community and provided few options for children or teens.
Over time, the Kings Bay Y had devolved from a vibrant force in the community, says Susan Friedman, managing director of UJA-Federation’s Jewish Communal Network Commission, to a center used primarily by older adults who had lived in the community for 30 years and now lamented the disrepair of the locker rooms and swimming pool.
Fast-forward just three years, to 2009, and the Kings Bay Y has gone through a remarkable 360-degree transformation, notes Friedman.
The community center now includes a newly renovated pool and locker rooms; a new board; a new executive director, Leonard Petlakh; and growth in program attendance: the after-school program grew from 56 children in 2006 to 178 during 2009, while the swim club saw its numbers climb from 82 children in 2006 to close to 1,200 children currently.
The renewed efforts “saved an agency that was going to fail in a geographic area that has a huge Jewish population and needs services,” explains Stephen Reiner, former chair of UJA-Federation’s Jewish Communal Network Commission, who served on the interim board of Kings Bay Y and remains as board president. A new strategic plan and public funds for capital improvements were among key steps that helped bring about the change.
Now visit the center on any Sunday and sounds of children attending a minicamp that offers dance, arts and crafts, and history programs to promote Jewish identity fill the halls. Teens take advantage of theater groups, and families of children with special needs have access to respite programs. Special events like the Purim Party or Israel Independence Day celebration draw more than 1,000 people to the center.
Building on these successes, the next big task facing the agency, says Reiner, is “growing the board and building reserves.”
Today the membership truly reflects the community and brings a dynamic energy to the center, Petlakh notes. “Immigrants — Russian-speaking and Israeli — modern Orthodox, and fourth-generation Americans” all come to the Kings Bay Y, he says. “It is a laboratory for Jewish integration.” ♦
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