Vandalyn Kennedy, M.S, M.Div.

Vandalyn Kennedy, M.S, M.Div.

Over 25 years ago, my life was greatly impacted by Mrs. Gwendolyn Harmon and the Crown Heights Service Center (CHSC). This agency, located just 2 blocks from my home at the time, turned out to be a beacon of hope and resource for my entire family.

During those years, the center provided my 3 brothers and I a haven, which included after school homework help, summer day camp, as well as introducing us to the Mr. & Mrs. Crown Heights pageant, which I won as a graduating high school senior. This pageant served as a “rites of passage”, exposing underserved youth to learning opportunities that would have otherwise been out of reach. Through the pageant we learned fundraising techniques, ballroom dancing, etiquette, confidence building, as well as receiving a college scholarship. My 3 brothers and I went on to receive not only undergraduate, but advanced degrees, and have worked in the Board of Education and varying NYC agencies. The center definitely helped us focus on our goals and helped limit neighborhood distractions and pitfalls we could have easily fallen prey to. If my parents were alive, I KNOW they would express their gratitude for this agency having a part in helping them raise 4 children in Brooklyn, NY in a time of great social and economic ill.

It is my hope that the center will live on to give these same opportunities and platform to many more young people in the Brooklyn area, so that they too can thrive and succeed.

Rev. Vandalyn Kennedy, M.S, M.Div.