Save our Beacon

At the Community Board 11 public meeting on April 2, members unanimously voted in support of a resolution opposing the closing of the Beacon Program at Marie Curie Middle School, MS 158. We received petitions from almost 900 people demanding that the program be saved.

Four members of the community spoke at the meeting, extolling the exemplary service this program provides to the children who attend. For 20 years, the Samuel Field YMHA and now its current program director, Ms. Martenia Miller, have provided a vital after-school service and summer program for the children of this community. CB 11 also has the opportunity to use the school for our monthly public meetings.

Residents of Community District 11 should not be singled out and denied the opportunity to send their children to a free program paid for by their tax dollars. This is the only Beacon this district has ever had.

The closing of this Beacon will be devastating to the working parents and their children who depend on it for a safe, supervised after-school program. Families whose budgets prevent them from paying for other programs will be left with nowhere to send their children.

The members of CB 11 hope that you recognize the damage that will be done if this Beacon program closes, and we urge you to keep it open.