From Howard Brandstein on the history of Sixth Street Community Center:
I began assisting Sixth Street as a volunteer in 1978 when I joined Maria Cruz to help save the building, a former synagogue, which was in a state of complete disrepair. In 1980, Save The Children provided a grant of $10,000 for purchase of the building from the former congregation. Repairs began in earnest with help from neighborhood volunteers but soon disaster befell us when deteriorated floor joists were removed from the first floor. A 25-foot section of the west wall from the basement to the roof collapsed.
I immediately went to work writing foundations and corporations for emergency grants to save the building. I was involved at the time in organizing homesteading projects in the neighborhood and recruited the architect working with Local Action for Neighborhood Development (LAND), a group I had started to begin a “land reform” movement in the LES. With the funds I raised and additional support from Save the Children, we were able to rebuild the wall and save Sixth Street from demolition. [See Save The Children newsletter]
In 1981, Save The Children hired me as Director of their NYC Inner Cities Program. For the next two years, I continued supporting Sixth Street in my new role. After leaving Save The Children, I began working with Catholic Charities and the Lower East Side Catholic Area Conference who supported our community homesteading efforts in the Lower East Side and East Harlem as well as the development of the first community land trust (RAIN CLT) in NYC in Loisaida.
In 1989, as part of my work with LES churches in developing neighborhood homesteading projects, I successfully applied to NYC for a $1.2 million two-year job training program in construction for young unemployed adults. We selected Sixth Street as the venue for the project and were able to complete major repairs to the Center. These included rebuilding the entire rear wall, installing flooring, room partitions, bathrooms and windows on the first and second floors, and replacing the building’s main sewer line. [See February 22, 1989 Daily News “Lessons in Work and Self-Improvement.”]
During that period, I served on the boards of Sixth Street and the LES Anti-Displacement Project which was run by my long-time partner Annette Averette. The Anti-Displacement Project was housed at Sixth Street from 1989 until 1994 when funding for the project ended. Annette came to work for Sixth Street at that time where she served in various roles over the years as Program Director, Business Manager and Chef for our on-site Organic Soul Cafe.
In late 1989, Maria Cruz resigned as Sixth Street’s Executive Director, joining the Board of Directors and served as a member for four years. At that time, I began handling administrative duties at the Center while continuing to work with the LES churches on the homesteading, community land trust and job training projects. In 1993, upon completion of these, I officially assumed the role of Sixth Street Executive Director.
During the 1990s, I worked to keep the Sixth Street after school and summer camp programs for kids going strong. In 1996, working together with Annette, we launched one of the first community supported agriculture (CSA) coops in NYC.
In the 1990s, Sixth Street was also a leader in the movement fighting for a genuine federal national organic standards rule that would reject the proposal to include genetically engineered and irradiated foods and crops grown on biosolids in the definition. After achieving victory in securing a national organic standard with integrity, I went on to organize the Sixth Street SOS Food campaign against genetically engineered foods and crops. The campaign ran for 10 years with weekly meetings, tabling at supermarkets and lobbying in Albany.
… to be continued …
Also: History of Sixth Street at City Lore site.