The Tree of Life Center on 164th Street in Jamaica, Queens, New York, is nearing completion. To an outsider, it may look like any other building going up in Jamaica Center. But the partnership that has made it a reality sees it as a key community-building resource for the neighborhood, a public square echoing with the sound of community voices in a setting that truly serves the needs of its residents.
“We went out and had 1,200 conversations in the local community about what’s important, what’s needed in this neighborhood,” said Rev. Patrick O’Connor of the First Presbyterian Church. O’Connor serves as board chair for the First Jamaica Community and Urban Development Corp., which is building the center a developer, The Bluestone Organization.
“Health, nutrition, training and housing were what the community told us was important.” O’Connor stressed.
Those needs spurred the idea of the Tree of Life Center, a mixed-use, energy-efficient building that could offer affordable housing and multiple other resources in one place. Cornell University Cooperative Extension–New York City (CUCE-NYC) and the NYC Community Healthcare Network came on board early as partners in the center because both organizations offer some of the services identified as priorities. CUCE-NYC has been working with the church since the early 2000s with an on-site office that houses a team of Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) community educators serving Queens and Brooklyn.
(Photo courtesy of Juan Vazquez-Leddon)
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