On Sunday October 18th Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams marched with hundreds of sports uniformed youths plus their coaches and advocates across the Brooklyn Bridge. BBP Adams once again called for the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to open up public schools to all groups who would use the space for “positive youth and community development” during times schools are closed. He noted that New York City has 1454 public school buildings, with 441 in the borough of Brooklyn alone, and that the structures are left vacant or are unreachable during non-school hours due to schools charging hundreds of dollars an hour to utilize space.
“DOE property is an extension of community resources, and those resources must be accessible to the critical youth sports programs in our community,” said Borough President Adams. “If we care about the health and wellness of our children, if we care about their holistic growth, and if we care about them making good choices rather than falling into dangerous street activity, then we will open the doors to our gymnasiums and fields. Let them play!”
“Our student athletes were excited about representing their school and campus at such an important event,” said Tommy Torres, assistant principal of Grand Street Campus High School. “Sports have had such a positive impact in the lives of our students and coaches. It was great to see so many of them walking with us in support of additional resources to help continue sports programs in all our schools and throughout all communities in Brooklyn. I’m a product of Pop Warner Football, Little League and PSAL Baseball, which helped to keep me and so many of my friends off the streets and focused on our future. We thank Borough President Adams for his leadership and commitment to students of Grand Street Campus HS.”
The Greenline 