The Beczak Environmental Education Center is a non-profit environmental education facility that presents exhibits and programs for all ages to raise environmental awareness and to encourage informed stewardship of the Hudson River, the Saw Mill River and the Bronx River.

Located on the banks of the Hudson in the City of Yonkers, at River Mile 18, the Beczak Environmental Education Center is an adaptive reuse of the former Social Club for Habirshaw Cable & Wire. This spacious interpretive center has several fish tanks, telescopes trained on the Palisades cliffs and rotating exhibits. Outside, the two-acre park features a welcoming riverfront lawn, an easily accessible tidal marsh and a beach used for river exploration and seining. Approximately ten feet off shore is an Estuary Monitoring System, the first computerized water and weather monitoring station in the Hudson that posts real-time data on Beczak's Website. 

Founded in 1989, Beczak has become a vital part of river communities from Staten Island to Poughkeepsie providing schools with multidisciplinary programs that are easily integrated into their educational curriculums. The Center also hosts numerous river-related public events and activities including teacher development programs, River Explorers programs for children, Lunchtime Learning for seniors, public forums and cultural and social events.

We believe that all children need to safely interact with the natural environment for healthy development. Our engaging, interactive learning programs are built on this principle. One of the primary goals of Beczak is to show even our youngest visitors that the river is part of a complex ecosystem that nurtures an amazing diversity of living things, including people.

Beczak offers an extensive curriculum of interactive educational programs designed to teach students about the complexity of the Hudson River and inspire them to become better stewards of this magnificent resource. Each year more than 5,000 school-age children visit Beczak on class trips and with youth organizations. Many more children and adults come to our Interpretive Center as a family, or to one of our many public events or adult programs.

Beczak Environmental Education Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people about the ecology, history and culture of the Hudson River.

Founded in 1989, Beczak traces its roots back to the 1970s, when Yonkers resident Joe Beczak and a handful of other local Hudson River enthusiasts volunteered to offer canoeing lessons to local Boy Scouts.

The “Beczak” name and organization were incorporated on February 1, 1989. The program has evolved considerably since then. While canoe lessons are no longer part of the curriculum, children and adults throughout the region have benefited from Beczak’s extensive offering of indoor and outdoor interactive educational experiences. Currently, Beczak conducts more than 300 separate experiential educational programs annually for 5,000+ children. These numbers are expected to grow steadily in the years ahead.

In 2004, Beczak opened a new 3,800-square-foot riverfront interpretive center. With a sandy beach and its own tidal marsh just steps away from the building, Beczak provides the community with an indoor and outdoor classroom where young and old alike can “touch the river” and learn about the natural world.

Beczak has come a long way from a handful of volunteers teaching children how to canoe. But it has never strayed from its focus: educating people about their natural environment, which ensures a connection which will benefit them – and their communities – for generations to come.