Our Mission

Brooklyn Jesuit Prep is a Catholic Jesuit middle school serving low-income families of diverse races, ethnicities and faiths in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. Our mission is to develop young leaders who are intellectually competent, open to growth, loving, religious and committed to doing justice. We achieve this goal through a rigorous academic program during an extended school day, a residential summer leadership camp and a graduate support program offering academic and tuition support through high school. In this way, we break the cycle of poverty through education and further the Jesuit tradition of molding men and women for others.


Our History

Brooklyn Jesuit Prep was founded in the fall of 2003 by the Society of Jesus under former president Rev. Vincent DeCola, SJ.  The school was modeled after Nativity Mission Center, a middle school that served low-income families on Manhattan’s Lower East Side for over 40 years. The Nativity model has been replicated over 60 times throughout the country and the world.

The school’s logo bears the phrase “Honoring the Promise”, an homage to Brooklyn’s former Jesuit institution, Brooklyn Prep.  BJP honors the promise of offering Jesuit education to the children of Brooklyn, as Brooklyn Prep did for 70 years. Importantly, BJP also "honors the promise" inherent in all young people by helping that promise or potential come to fulfillment.

Brooklyn Jesuit Prep resides in the former school building of St. Vincent Ferrer parish.  The school still holds monthly masses in St. Vincent Ferrer church, inviting Jesuits from communities around NYC to celebrate.  Learn more about the work of the Jesuits by clicking here and here.