Lefrak Jewish Center
1996 - present
Nestled in the Lefrak City Building sits the Lefrak City Jewish Center. Samuel LeFrak began construction on the parcel of land to create residential alongside Horace Expressway in 1960; by 1961, upper- and middle-class Jewish families were lured to the space. However, by the mid-1970s, LeFrak found itself amidst a lawsuit exposing its racial politics. To remedy this without admitting to racism, the building company gave 50 black families apartments with the first month free, which contributed to White Flight from the established community there. This was reflective of the general community; poor Black families were moving into the area as many White families left (with the exception of European immigrants. This left vacancies for families of newly immigrated African people and White Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Bloc to move in. By the 1990s, these groups fully occupied the space and the community found itself in need of a synagogue once again, leading to creation of the Lefrak City Jewish Center in 1996. Since then, it has provided social needs to the community such as food banks and education.
Details
- Category
- Faith-based institution
- Audience
- All Ages
- Tags
- queens, religion, immigration
- Notes
- References: http://www.journalist-historian.com/?p=390 https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/16/archives/major-landlord-accused-of-antiblack-bias-in-city-us-accuses-major.html https://www.nycitynewsservice.com/2008/05/29/cd-4-finding-freedom-in-lefrak-city/ https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/nyregion/lefrak-city-racial-redux-with-a-twist.html https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/06/nyregion/stabilizing-lefrak-city-jewish-muslim-immigrants-help-revive-troubled-complex.html https://networks.whyhunger.org/organisation/7007
Location
-
9815 Horace Harding Expy, Corona, NY 11368, USA? - ?