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In memory of Doris Clark, former Executive Director of BCHS. Brooklyn Community Housing and Services, Inc. (BCHS) mourns the passing of long-time Executive Director Doris L. Clark. As many were aware, Doris lived bravely and fully with a serious illness for many years, and her strength and resilience are a part of her remarkable legacy. Doris’ vision, of creating a community of supportive peers for formerly homeless individuals, remains a unique and groundbreaking one, and her extraordinary work will continue to have a lasting impact, both here at the agency and in the supportive housing field, for decades to come. Doris joined BCHS in 1983, working on proposals to expand its Scattered-Site Apartment Program as well as to develop an innovative housing program called “Brooklyn Gardens.” Doris became Executive Director in 1986, and through determination and tremendous effort made the vision of Brooklyn Gardens a reality for 180 formerly homeless people, as it opened in 1991. To this day, the blended populations housed at “BG” – mothers with children, the severely and persistently mentally ill, working individuals with a low income, and those with a history of chronic homelessness – represent a diversity rarely seen in one location. BCHS currently serves over 600 residents a year. Doris’ commitment to helping those in need in Brooklyn was unwavering and longstanding. In 1974 she co-founded the Fifth Avenue Committee, a local group dedicated to economic revitalization and residential development in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. She stayed with the organization for five years, during which time it developed 40 new houses for low-income to moderate-income families. Doris was extremely active with local Brooklyn organizations, including serving as a Board member for the historic YWCA of Brooklyn and as a member of the Park Slope Civic Council Trustees. Doris was a member of the Steering Committee of the statewide Supportive Housing Network of New York, providing an important voice that helped bring about the expansion of resources for supportive housing programs citywide. Doris received her Bachelor of Science degree from the Northwestern University School of Speech. Shortly afterwards she moved to New York where she worked in various communications, education and community service positions, including as a reporter with Radio Free Europe, an English teacher in the New York City public school system, and as an assistant to Mayor John Lindsay. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 10 am at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 85 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217. The Board, Staff, and Residents of BCHS will miss Doris greatly, and extend our deepest sympathies to her daughter Erika, and her many friends, colleagues and admirers. . . . from crisis to community
© Brooklyn Community
Housing and Services, Inc. 2007
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