In this Issue

 

Buy Stone Sculptures, Support CAMBA, March 26-29

 

A Groundbreaking and Ribbon Cutting at Gateway Elton

 

Middle School Dancers Make Semifinals in Citywide 'Step It Up' Competition

 

Employee Profile: Arkady Kheyman

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

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Case Manager,
Healthy Families

 

Foreclosure Counselor, CAMBA Legal Services 

 

Program Manager, Cure Violence Program

 

 

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CAMBA is a non-profit agency that provides services that connect people with opportunities to enhance their
quality of life.
january 2015

shona
CAMBA's Shona Sculpture Benefit Sale:
March 26th-29th, 2015

Our Shona Benefit Sale is back this year, and there's a gallery-full of inspiring stone sculptures created by Zimbabwe's Shona artists. Pick up an affordable, original artwork for your home or garden and help fund CAMBA's services for 45,000 New Yorkers in need.


Opening Night Cocktail Reception
Thursday, March 26th, 2015
6 pm - 9 pm
Tickets: $75

 

Public Sculpture Sale

Fri., Sat., & Sun. March 27th, 28th & 29th, 2015
1 pm - 6 pm
Free & open to the public

 

Buy Reception Tickets Here

 

All events are at the Shona Gallery, 19 Winthrop Street, Brooklyn, NY 11225-6008

 

gateway
With a Ribbon Cutting and Groundbreaking, More Affordable Housing in Spring Creek
Rendering of Gateway Elton Phase III by Dattner Architects

CAMBA and CAMBA Housing Ventures joined with our partners The Hudson Companies and Related Companies, elected officials and housing and community leaders on January 15 to cut the ribbon on Gateway Elton Phase I and break ground on Gateway Elton Phase III in Brooklyn.

 

When the three-phase Gateway Elton project is completed, it will provide the Spring Creek community with a total of 659 affordable apartment and 711,855 square feet of new retail space. The solar photovoltaic panels on the buildings' rooftops are expected to generate more than one million watts of renewable energy.

 

These sustainable developments will be for families and individuals within a range of low incomes, and some of the units will be set aside as supportive housing for people transitioning to independent living.

 

"CAMBA/CAMBA Housing Ventures is proud to be a partner in the innovative Gateway developments," said Joanne M. Oplustil, President and CEO of CAMBA/CAMBA Housing Ventures. 

 

She added: "The heart of these projects is 'renewal.'  They boast state-of-the-art solar voltaic energy renewal systems -- the largest of any residential buildings in the state, as well as much-needed housing, retail space and services. These affordable and supportive homes will bring transformational renewal to both the Spring Creek community and to the people who will live here."

 

"The entire Gateway Elton development is an example of the great potential that lies in every vacant parcel of land left in New York City," said City HPD Commissioner Vicki Been. "All three phases of this multi-family development include a mix of retail and community spaces alongside affordable housing. The development incorporates an energy-efficient network ... to provide clean, sustainable energy to all its buildings. The development is an example that we'd like to see replicated citywide."

 

Read the full press release here.
 

stepitupCAMBA Middle Schoolers 'Step It Up' and Make Semifinals of Citywide Competition
A past CAMBA step team competes in the 'Step It Up' finals

Four teams of CAMBA middler-schoolers have danced their way to the semifinals of the citywide "Step It Up" Competition. 

 

Hosted by the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), "Step It Up" asks dance teams from school-based programs around the City to perform their best modern, ballet, hip hop, tap, krump, and step routines, while also raising awareness in their communities through youth-led anti-violence campaigns.
 

CAMBA has a strong showing in the semifinal round, with four out of 25 total teams, including "Color of Peace" from Beacon 269; "BQ4L" from CAMBA SONYC at Hudde JHS; and two teams from CAMBA East New York Beacon (166): "Infinity" and "RaRa's Angels."

 

The semifinal round, held on February 21, will determine 10 finalists that will compete at the storied Apollo Theater this summer. Good luck to all the CAMBA teams!

 


 
employeeEmployee Profile: Arkady Kheyman
Career Advisor, Refugee Services

 

Arkady Kheyman's journey to America was spurred by a threatening visit from the KGB. The year was 1989 and the security agency had learned that Arkady owned copies of several books banned in the Soviet Union at that time.

 

Leaving his home country was a traumatic decision. Arkady was a lawyer in Russia, and he knew it would be difficult to resume his profession in the U.S. But, because of the KGB's recent attention and for other reasons, he also knew that he and his family had to seek refuge overseas. 

 

When Arkady arrived here in Brooklyn, along with 10 family members, he first worked as a restaurant waiter ("Any job is better than no job," he says, a phrase that has become his mantra).

 

Then Arkady came to CAMBA for English lessons ... and never left. He soon was a CAMBA intern and then a full-time employee working with refugees and asylees.

 

That was 24 years ago.

 

Arkady retired from CAMBA on January 30, ending a career that enabled him to help thousands of people like himself - people who came to America seeking safety and a better life. Over the past quarter-century, he has helped develop and shape CAMBA's refugee services programs, which today serve almost 700 people from over 30 countries annually.

 

"Arkady dedicated his life's work to helping people who came from nations around the globe," says Eileen Reilly, CAMBA Vice President for Economic Development. "Through his own experience, he was able ease the struggles of thousands of people who were forced to flee their homelands and make a new life in America."

 

Arkady's desk at CAMBA has been a front-row seat on history and politics, as he worked with refugees and asylees fleeing wars and crises across the globe and across the years. In the 1990s, it was a wave of Russian �migr�s, people from Albania and Kosovo. Later, refugees from Burma, China, Cuba and Haiti passed through Arkady's office. Today, many are from West Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

"I never dreamed I would meet people from so many countries -- and that I would learn something from everyone," he says.

 

In retirement, Arkady plans to read, spend time with his family -- especially his grandchildren -- and will continue his rigorous exercise routines, which include daily runs and twice-daily ocean swims.