Boro Park JCC Unveils New Building in Heart of Brooklyn

To many, the most distinctive feature of Boro Park is 13th Avenue, with its exclusive shopping lining the road and the iconic Shomrei Shabbos shul that hundreds, maybe thousands, pass through daily. Now 13th Avenue is set to welcome another landmark: It will soon be the host of the Boro Park Jewish Community Council’s new headquarters.

Last Thursday, the JCC invited Councilman Kalman Yeger and a group of communal activists, including the JCC’s board members, to visit the site and check on the progress of construction at the new center. Mr. Yeger and the others were shown around by Executive Director Rabbi Avi Greenstein.

The visitors included Yitzchak Fleischer and Yidel Perlstein of Community Board 12; Yoel Grunfeld, Naftali Reiner, Menachem Garfinkel, Yosef Nadler, Yechiel Myski, Shraga Friedman and Yidel Schoenfeld.

“Thursday was an incredible opportunity to tour a project that will continue its essential work in assisting so many deserving people in our community,” Mr. Yeger said. “The programs and benefits provided by Boro Park JCC offer immediate relief and direction for clients needing a path of self-sufficiency and independence. Boro Park JCC is the helping hand that our community strives to give. I look forward to continuing to partner with our JCC to help make it easier to live, work and raise a family in our community.”

The new center will open with numerous offices to provide the public with an array of services, activities and programs, including computer classes, assistance with obtaining Medicaid and food stamps, citizenship applications, Holocaust survivor’s benefits and identification cards.

The former Boro Park JCC offices in the Y building on 14th Avenue were outgrown long ago. After an exhaustive search, the JCC located a perfect site at the corner of 46th Street and 13th Avenue. The building is being completely refurbished to the JCC’s specifications.

“Everything that will be done and carried out in the various offices of the Council [is] of paramount importance to the people who are in need of this help,” said Rabbi Isaac Stern, president of the Boro Park JCC. “So many residents have been – over the years – helped here with their needs. Our staff members responded to them with their unique ability to help, and all of this will now be improved in the beautiful new center.

Rabbi Greenstein said about the move that “its time has come.”

“Great things are happening for the people of Boro Park as the Boro Park Jewish Community Council expands to meet the ever-increasing demand for social services and advocacy in the most sophisticated way possible,” said Rabbi Greenstein. “The BPJCC is especially excited about the progress that has been made to date and is looking forward to the grand opening so as to serve its thousands of clients in the new location.”