Central Park

The Hoops and Leaders Basketball Camp (HLBC) was the brainchild of Aaron Dworkin, Director of Special Programs at the Coro New York Leadership Center. It started as an idea—to address the need for male mentors in the City of New York by holding a basketball camp based on the Bill Bradley book Values of the Game. At this camp there would be 32 male mentors and 32 teenage boys interested in being paired with a mentor. Parks embraced the idea and added to it. Al Smith Recreation Center was chosen as the site, a budget was formed, and four weeks later Coro had raised the necessary $16,000. NBA, Edwin Gould Foundation and Madison Square Garden were secured as sponsors. The Mentoring Partnership also signed on, promising to follow-up once mentor/mentee matches were made.

From August 23, 2001 through August 25, 2001 HLBC took over at Al Smith Recreation Center. The Center was closed to the general public while campers explored new themes each day—themes like discipline, teamwork, respect, and vision—through basketball drills, lectures and discussion groups, and leadership games. All kids received food and money for transportation each day.

HLBC ended with a community gardening project at Al Smith followed by a banquet dinner served in the gymnasium. Commissioner Henry J. (Starquest) Stern spoke, as did many of the teenagers and mentors. Out of 64 participants, approximately 65% were matched with a mentor or mentee. The relationships will be supervised by the New York Mentoring Partnership.

(Friday, September 23, 1988)

Garbed in dark green fisherman’s waist waders and standing before a bright red water valve at Bethesda Fountain, Commissioner Stern joined Central Park Administrator Elizabeth Barlow Rogers and Art Commissioner President Edward Ames to dedicate the fountain’s newly-restored Angels of the Waters statue.

"I realize I’m dressed a bit unusually," said the Commissioner to those gathered around the base of the fountain, "but I have a mission to turn on the water as part of today’s dedication."

Elie Wiesel (b. 1928)