The Fight to Save Imani House: Parents and Children Urge Mayor Mamdani and City Officials to Reinstate Legacy Program

Several parents and their children spoke to From The G-Man about the termination of Imani House and what it would mean for them going forward. Their order of appearance is as follows: Ukrainian native Lulia and her children, Elliot Armstrong and his granddaughters Chloe and Chelsea, Jasmine and her daughter Skylar, Luis and his son Avery, and Caryn Davidson and Jeremy Karafin with their daughter Qesiah.

By Gary Glennell Toms

Founded by Brooklyn educator, activist, and humanitarian Bisi Ideraabdullah, affectionately known throughout the community as “Sister Bisi,” Imani House is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit dedicated to empowering children, families, and underserved communities through education, youth development, literacy, and social services.

“The organization’s roots trace back to Liberia, West Africa, where me and my family relocated in 1985. During Liberia’s civil war, we used our personal resources to provide humanitarian aid, establish literacy programs, support displaced families, and operate a healthcare clinic serving women and children affected by conflict,” said Sister Bisi. “In 1991, Imani House was formally incorporated as a nonprofit organization.”

After returning to Brooklyn in 1996, Sister Bisi expanded Imani House’s mission to address the needs of local families. The organization launched a food pantry, adult literacy and English language classes, computer training, job readiness programs, and information and referral services for immigrants and low-income residents. These services helped hundreds of community members access education, employment, housing, legal, and social support resources.

“Over the past two decades, Imani House has become best known for its high-quality youth development programs. Through support from the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), the organization has operated after-school and summer programs serving children from underserved communities,” the founder and educator stated. “In 2026, the Imani House COMPASS program at P.S. 282 celebrated its 22nd year, serving approximately 120 students during the school year and 140 students during Summer Rising.”

Imani House provides a wide range of enrichment opportunities, including academic support, leadership development, visual and performing arts, athletics, environmental education, archery, steel pan band, African drumming, dance, cheerleading, filmmaking, sewing, and individualized tutoring. The organization has been lauded for its inclusive programming and strong support for children with special needs, including those on the autism spectrum.

Imani House remains headquartered in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and is supported by 32 staff members and approximately 60 community volunteers, but that dramatically and drastically changed this year.

On May 15, Imani House received notification from DYCD and the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS) stating that its application to continue the after-school program was not accepted. The organization was given no reason for the sudden rejection, and it came as a complete shock and disappointment to parents and the students. “I don’t want to close this outstanding program, which helps my children and so many others grow and develop, holistically,” said Sister Bisi. “It would be a terrible loss for P.S. 282 families if Imani House and its trained staff are forced to discontinue these special activities and programs.”

Caryn Davidson, who has worked in New York City public schools for 22 years and participated, liaison-ed with and witnessed multiple after school programs, is equally devastated. “I can confidently say that it will be a grave mistake to allow for the Imani House program to be unjustly terminated,” said Davidson. “In the context of such a segregated after school program, in which programs with significant costs include majority white students, it is imperative that the PS 282 community understand and communicate about the ramifications of Imani House being terminated. This is part of a citywide issue, and we, the parents who know how critical and liberatory the Imani House legacy is, will fight it until the end.”

The following letter was submitted to the Office of Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the hope that he would look into the matter and reverse the decision to shut down Imani House. To date, there has been no response from the mayor or his spokesperson.

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On June 4, Sister Bisi met with a DYCD representative for a debriefing of the Imani House after-school application scorings, which was attended by the Executive Director, the Board Chair and the Board Secretary of Imani House. She provided the following summary.

The representative was cordial and reviewed the scoring on each area of the two grants submitted by Imani House. There were two reviewers for these grants.

1) Our scores were reasonably high and we were told that the program, overall, was a good one. They scored and judged the program design, familiarity with the school and community, capacity to perform, inclusions that matched the DYCD criteria and others.

2) We were told that we lost six points for an error in our budget; not in the overall budget, but the Indirect portion which did not add up to 10%.

3). The decision to choose the “winner,” so to speak, did not take much else into consideration. The highest scored at 87.4. Imani House scored at 81.4. The reviewer told us that had our budgets received the full score from each reviewer, we would have had the six points needed to match the winner.

4) We found out earlier that the CBO to replace us would be New York Edge, formerly Sports and Arts. While they are a multi-million dollar CBO operating in over 150 school programs, it is odd that no other criteria besides the scoring was accepted to allow Imani House to keep our program.

5) The Principal ranked Imani House the highest in her choice a three, but it did not matter as she, nor the parents, was not included in discussions of which program they wanted for the children in the school. They did not take into consideration the history of Imani House’s excellent 22-year after-school program, the need for the children, the parents opinions, nor the outstanding performance DYCD site managers often gave us during on-site visits. These important criteria had no bearing on who was awarded the contract. Judging only by the score is not a fair or just way to make this extremely important decision for awarding of this this after-school contract.

Questions were asked of the reviewer, but she had no way of amending what was already decided. Imani House is protesting the decision along with many other CBO’s who lost their programs for reason as yet to be truly defined.

From The G-Man contacted several of the area’s elected officials via email and phone, but they did not respond to the office’s request for comments by the deadline. The Office of DYCD Commissioner Sandra Escamilla-Davis, District 13 Superintendent Megan Dunn, and Amy Rodriguez, Principal of P.S. 282, were also contacted to obtain statements on the closure of the Imani House program. They also failed to respond by the deadline date. If statements are provided in the near future, they will be published in their entirety and unedited. 

The following reports provide a timeline of events that may relate to the current situation with Imani House and P.S. 282.

PS/MS 282 Principal Leaves Position Amidst Controversy

Rumors and Race Cause Park Slope Parents to Shun P.S. 282, Supporters Say