Lower Eastside Girls Club Announces Executive Director, Dr. Lyn Pentecost, Retirement. Jenny Dembrow and Ebonie Simpson named as Interim Co-Executive Directors
New York, June 18, 2020
The Lower Eastside Girls Club’s Executive Director and Co-Founder, Dr. Lyn Pentecost, has retired after 24 years of exemplary and innovative service. Associate Executive Director, Jenny Dembrow, and Managing Director, Ebonie Simpson, were named Interim Co-Executive Directors on May 11, 2020.
“Though I will miss the day-to-day life at the Girls Club, I look forward to having more time to spend with friends and family, travel, and finish writing a book on my fifty years of art and activism in the East Village. And of course, I am thrilled to see the ongoing evolution of The Lower Eastside Girls Club under the leadership of the next generation.”
— Dr. Lyn Pentecost
Founded in 1996 to address the lack of services and facilities for girls in Lower Manhattan, the Girls Club operated out of a small storefront and church basement. For over two decades, Pentecost worked with community members, volunteers, activists, and entrepreneurs to realize their vision of building an innovative organization focused on social justice that would transform the lives of under-served girls. Today, the Girls Club operates out of a state-of-the-art 35,000 square foot facility that features a planetarium, radio studio, rooftop garden, and maker shop. Serving hundreds of young women across New York City, the Girls Club offers free year-round programs in the Arts, STEM, Digital Media, Entrepreneurship, Wellness, and Activism.
Councilwoman Carlina Rivera says:
“I am so grateful to Lyn Pentecost for her work with the Lower Eastside Girls Club. Lyn recognized that many girls were struggling with poverty and other institutional barriers to their success, and she created a space for them to learn and thrive, I am excited to see Ebonie Simpson and Jenny Dembrow guide the Lower Eastside Girls Club into its next chapter.”
Assembly Member Harvey Epstein says:
“Dr. Lyn Pentecost has been a visionary leader. For over two decades she has steered the course of uncharted territory of creating a safe and inclusive space for the girls of the Lower East Side. We wish Lyn the best of luck in her next chapter. We are also excited to continue the important work of empowering young leaders in the community in the warm and capable hands of Jenny Dembrow and Ebonie Simpson.”
Jenny Dembrow has lived on the Lower East Side for nearly 30 years and has contributed to the organization’s growth through her deep and abiding commitment to the girls and their families. As the Interim Co-Executive Director, Dembrow will honor the founding vision, while leading the organization into the future. Jenny has been a central fixture at the Girls Club since its founding, seeing the organization through growth, expansion and success; and developing personal connections with every single member that has walked through the doors.
Ebonie Simpson came to the Girls Club in 2010 as a college intern, and later volunteered as a mentor and Junior Board Member before joining staff. A graduate of Duke University, she received the University Distinguished Leadership and Service Award for her activism at the intersection of social justice and policy. She served as a 2012- 2013 NYC Urban Fellow in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and subsequently served as Associate Director at NYC Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations. In 2018, Simpson also created the Girl’s Club city-wide girls civic leadership initiative, New Girl City: Agents of Change NYC.
“We are honored to lead this organization during this critical time and to continue the legacy of nearly 25 years of advocacy and activism. In the era of COVID-19 and George Floyd, our work to develop leaders and promote communal self-reliance remains necessary and central to everything we do. As we respond to the immense needs of our community and city, we look forward to continuing and expanding our core mission rooted in racial, gender, wellness and opportunity equity.”
Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, the Girls Club has stepped in: keeping families connected, supplying healthy meals and produce to those in need, providing hand-made PPE gear to those at risk, providing weekly cash infusions to families, delivering sewing machines, art kits, gardening kits, and laptop computers; and adapting Girl Club programming to be available online to further support the community and families impacted by the pandemic. This work will continue through the year, as the immense need continues to grow.
About Lower Eastside Girls Club
The Lower Eastside Girls Club (LESGC) is a community-based organization dedicated to preparing today’s girls for tomorrow’s world. LESGC’s mission is “to raise the next generation of environmental, entrepreneurial and ethical leaders.” LESGC connects girls and young women to healthy and successful futures. We offer them “Joy. Power. Possibility,” so they know that they can do anything.
Founded in 1996 by neighborhood mothers, entrepreneurs, artists, and community activists to address the lack of services and facilities for girls in our community, we now serve hundreds of girls and young women aged 10-23, along with their families and community. In over 20 years, we have grown from a small volunteer-led organization into a recognized leader and innovator in the field of youth programming, community arts and community engagement, with citywide, national and global partnerships. The girls and young women in our program are using their voices and talents to create movements, demonstrations, art, music, and products that promote racial and gender justice, barrier and ceiling dismantling, anti-violence, mental and physical wellness, environmental justice, civic and political engagement. We are committed to providing our girls and their community with the tools and experiences they need to overcome and eradicate the barriers that may limit their potential, uplift their communities, and promote systemic equity.
Our 35,000 square foot Center for Community provides over 50 unique classes a week, all free of charge. Facilities include a Maker Shop for engineering and coding; Biology lab for STEM programming focused on earth and ocean research; Alphabet City Art School for visual arts and crafts; Center for Media and Social Justice for digital media and photography; Sound Studio for music production and our radio station/podcast, WGRL (Where Girl Radio Lives); Design Shop for fashion design; a rooftop farm; full culinary kitchen and cafe; and 64-seat state-of-the-art, 30-foot dome planetarium. In 2021, LESGC will open the Center for Wellbeing and Happiness, an intergenerational and holistic wellness education and training center for all community members.
Contacts
Kylee Roberts
Communications & Development Associate
kylee@girlsclub.org
Comments are closed.