Beacon Community Center In Dyker Heights
DYKER HEIGHTS — Blaming budget cuts, the Department of Youth and Community Development said Friday that it would be shuttering seven long-established Beacon Community Centers. The closures affect one center in Brooklyn — at McKinley I.S. 259 in Dyker Heights.
The Beacon programs provide roughly 6,000 children and adults with homework help, academics and sports activities after school and in the evenings, on weekends and during the summer.
“I am absolutely outraged that the City would even think of closing this center,” said Council Member Vincent J. Gentile (D-Southwest Brooklyn) in a statement. “The neighborhoods I serve don’t qualify for many city services and I’m not going to stand for the city taking away funds for the few we do qualify for.”