Luis Garden Acosta, founder of the influential Williamsburg-based community organization El Puente, passed away on January 9. According to an account from local historian Geoff Cobb, "Acosta was the founder and president of El Puente, a nationally celebrated, Brooklyn based, community/youth development organization. A man of great passion, Acosta was so active in a variety of fields that he defied easy identification. The community organizer and advocate for the disadvantaged was also an environmental leader, a housing activist, and an educator, but he was something even bigger than these various roles. Acosta embodied the fighting spirit of the Hispanic community in North Brooklyn and his death leaves a massive void."
El Puente has played a significant role in shaping South Williamsburg and creating a model for community-based youth development organizations. The organizationa is "grounded in a holistic approach to leadership development for young people and their families, [bridging] the worlds of health, education, and the arts with activism and community empowerment."
Read more about the legacy of Luis Garden Acosta here.
Published: January 10, 2019