Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation (CHLDC) recently celebrated the grand opening of its new community center located in the affordable housing community Chestnut Commons. The Cypress Hills East New York Community Center serves as a program hub for CHLDC, providing career and education services for families within Chestnut Commons, as well as the surrounding community. The job programs provide industry-recognized credentials in the culinary, carpentry, construction, health care, information technology, and transportation sectors, and the education programs support young adults and high school students as they apply to, enter, and complete college.
The new community center also includes a social enterprise café, which provides additional program space dedicated to job training and education and community space for meetings and recreation. CHLDC hopes that the center’s close proximity to such a large number of affordable apartments that are housing people formerly experiencing homelessness will strengthen this community by helping residents access the services they need to secure and maintain jobs and higher education.
The Weinberg Foundation provided a $2 million grant to support this project.
