Mosholu Montefiore Community Center

The MMCC serves as a multi-service organization dedicated to unifying residents and improving the lives of Norwood residents. MMCC encourages residents to take part in its many educational, health, employment, recreational, social, nutritional, and personal development offerings. The programs provided are meant to help individuals overcome financial hardship, build inclusive communities, and maintain a healthy and meaningful lifestyle. Active participant and family involvement is crucial to the enhancement of the communal unity and strength. The organization strives to create an integrated and vibrant community.

Beginning in 1942, the MMCC ran very few programs from a ragtag mix of locations in the communities. Programs ran out of a storefront on Gun Hill Road, basements on Wayne Avenue, and rented rooms in P.S. 94. As demand for programs grew, MMCC constructed its current building on 3450 DeKalb Avenue nearly a decade later. According to a memoir written by resident at the time Bernard Warach, the center’s tax-exempt status was viciously protested as the entire building and its property had to have been designated not-for-profit. However it was under Montefiore’s finances and located on its grounds. A lawsuit made it all the way to the Supreme Court where it maintained its tax exempt status.Programs have continued to expand to serve Norwood and the greater Bronx inhabitants. The main building on DeKalb houses classrooms, recreation rooms, a computer lab, and a full size gym. Programs at the main building and the secondary building (North on DeKalb) include adult fitness and personal development courses, after school programs and daycare, youth and teen programs, senior centers, and government form assistance.

MMCC is one of the few community centers that offers free ESL classes during the summer. As a result of the community’s demographics, it is the most demanded program at the center. There are three levels of proficiency; beginner, intermediate, advanced. The ratio of students to adults in the ESL classes depend on the level of proficiency you choose. According to previous sign up data, adults comprise the majority of the beginner classes. Children on the other hand, classified as 17 and under, make up the better part of the advanced classes. Over the last six years, adults comprise 67 percent of the beginner ESL classes. In those same six years, the advanced ESL classes are over 74 percent children. The information suggests that children of immigrants understand the language better than their parents.

Mosholu Montefiore Community Center has become another vital resource in the betterment of Norwood’s residents. Strengthening individual abilities while simultaneously unifying a community is what the center is all about. Through partnership with associations including Boys & Girls Clubs of America, UJA- Federation of New York, and United Neighborhood Houses, MMCC can continue to offer an impressive array of meaningful programs and services to the residents of Norwood.

Resources:

Warach, Bernard. The Associated Y’s Building Program. Hope: A Memoir. N.p.: IUniverse, 2011. 260-68. Google Books. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://books.google.com/books?id=X2np_gs5VckC&pg=PA267&lpg=PA267&dq=mosholu montefiore community center construction&source=bl&ots=ZJW-pbU6hn&sig=hdee3eiItM6iuJ3wwIFzKK7xF5w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KuFyU7z0NPDjsASH5oLQCQ&ved=0CG0Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=mosholu montefiore community center construction&f=false>

http://www.mmcc.org/index.php?submenu=about_us&src=gendocs&ref=AboutUs&category=Main#.U3LssrtFRo0