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Vilma P. Torres is the Educational Director at our Friends of Crown Heights Coney Island Center, located at 49 Avenue W, in South Brooklyn. Before assuming this latest position, she had served with distinction as Educational Director of our Inwood Educational Center, located at 3732 Tenth Avenue, in Northern Manhattan. She had also previously served for six years as a pre-Kindergarten group teacher at our East 40th Street center in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn.

Born in El Salvador, Ms. Torres migrated to the United States at the age of 18 and immediately embarked on a path to fulfill her lifelong dream of being a career educator. She earned the Associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Borough of Manhattan Community College, a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from City College and the Master’s degree in Bilingual Education from Brooklyn College – all with Honors. She also holds the Permanent New York State certification for Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and Grades 1 through 6. She has taught 3rd and 4th Grade classrooms in the New York City public school system but is especially committed to early childhood education.

Since 1998, Ms. Torres has worked extensively with families of different backgrounds, including children of Haitian, Russian, African-American and Hispanic heritage. As an immigrant, she is also particularly sensitive to the challenges of adaptation that confront children and families arriving from other countries and she is able to draw on her own experience in helping them navigate that process.