A night in the middle of March marked the reboot of School Settlement Association’s Capital Campaign to raise money for the New School Settlement Community Center. Support for this center is vital as surrounding elementary schools built in the mid-1900s lack indoor gymnasiums and auditoriums for children to play, engage, perform, and practice safely. The new center will feature: a state of the art auditorium-gymnasium, modern classrooms, a computer lab, and elder services.
As the Italian-American community was an intrinsic part of establishing the School Settlement in 1901, this reboot took the form of a dinner and discussion on how to create a permanent legacy exhibit celebrating the Italian American community’s immigrant roots and the generational support for the School Settlement Association’s past and future.
Dinner was held at the Brooklyn Kitchen (100 Frost Street) and curated from traditional recipes in the new SSA Cookbook. Brooklyn Kitchen owner Taylor Erkkinen collected the recipes and edited this cookbook fundraiser. Current representatives of the Italian-American community: Bamonte’s Restaurant, Da Francesco, and Carmine & Sons Pizzeria, Restaurant and Sports Bar generously provided hors d’oeuvres that whet the appetite for the night’s presentation and future fundraising that will broaden opportunity via a new community center.
The Greenline 