Delvis Valdes and his family have been a part of Sunset Park for almost 50 years. As a founding member of the Sunset Park Fifth Avenue BID and Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID he brought together business and property owners to help revitalize the retail strips in both neighborhoods. Throughout his career Delvis has always maintained a sense of charity, but it was always in education that Delvis felt the most need to help others. Delvis formed “Claimer Kids,” an organization dedicated to the academic improvement and social development of young children in Sunset Park. Since then two group family day cares were opened enrolling 32 children with programs to improve the children’s academics. Delvis, born from two immigrants who came to this country without a working knowledge of and toiled in grocery stores and factories for hours, was taught that the way to a better life was through education. Now he is working to show the next generation that this philosophy remains the same today.