Crown Heights' Weeksville Heritage Center At Risk Of Closure

CROWN HEIGHTS, NY — The historic Weeksville Heritage Center in Crown Heights will be forced to close if $200,000 in emergency funding isn't raised by July, according to a GoFundMe page set up by the Society for Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History.

The historical importance of the center is outlined in a video on the GoFundMe campaign page, narrated by actor and native Brooklynite Michael K. Williams.

The center is deeply intertwined in black American history in New York City and the country as a whole. The complex is located on the site of the first community established by free black professionals in 1838, according to an article by Curbed.

A 23,000 square foot Visitor and Education Center makes up the majority of the property, with the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses also included in the location. The entire complex is both a New York City landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

"Our goal is to come out of this planning with a clear path to sustainability and to ensure we never find ourselves in this financially vulnerable position again," it reads on the GoFundMe page.

The GoFundMe says the money raised would help the center to continue:

• Inspiring more than 6,000 NYC schoolchildren who tour the grounds annually.
• Preserving and making available collections that document and interpret Weeksville.
• Training and workshops that educate and empower the community to be the custodians of their own memories and history.
• Bringing high-quality arts & culture programming to an underserved Central Brooklyn community.