Former NYCHA Resident Donates $100,000 to Fund for Public Housing

Over the next 10 years, Jeffrey Levine, former Linden Houses resident, will provide $100,000 to The Fund for the Levine Family Scholarship, an annual award of up to 10 $1,000 scholarships to NYCHA residents enrolled at City College.

Jeffrey Levine Gives Back to the City that Supported Him

One of Jeffrey Levine’s most vivid memories of growing up in Linden Houses is of jumping on concrete turtles and playing on the monkey bars. He lived with his parents and two siblings in a two-bedroom apartment at Linden from  1956 to 1965. Mr. Levine is now well-known in the real estate industry as the Chairman of Douglaston Development, Levine Builders, and Clinton Management. He is the first former NYCHA resident to donate to the Fund for Public Housing, a new nonprofit dedicated to raising money to improve the lives of NYCHA residents.

Over the next 10 years, Mr. Levine will provide $100,000 to The Fund for the Levine Family Scholarship, an annual award of up to 10 $1,000 scholarships to NYCHA residents enrolled at City College. “I’m very appreciative of  all of the opportunities that were afforded me as a resident of New York City, whether it be in our housing program or our city university  educational program,” he explains. Mr. Levine graduated from the City University of New York’s City College School of Architecture in 1975,  attending the school at night while he worked full-time.

Mr. Levine advises this year’s and future winners of the scholarship to do  what he did while he was in college: “Always sit in the front row because it prevents you from falling asleep.” He adds, “Obviously, like  anything else in life, if you’re going to get a degree, get it in something that motivates you, inspires you. It’s a lot easier doing something  you love than something you don’t. I was blessed that I always had an attraction to the buildiing industry, construction, and real estate  development. I love the sense of accomplishment that goes with building and creating something.”

There’s also the sense of  accomplishment that comes from giving back, and Mr. Levine hopes other former NYCHA residents follow in his footsteps: “I believe that the most sincere way to express appreciation for all that has been done for you is to do that for others.”

His family moved from Linden Houses  when Mr. Levine was 10, but Linden Houses and the surrounding neighborhood remain special to him. Though the concrete turtles on the playground are long gone, Mr. Levine, who lives in Manhattan with his wife Randi, recently got to show his three adult children his former  home at 215 Cozine Avenue. He says it’s an experience he and his children will never forget.