NEWS
SOURCE: GODDARD RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER
Goddard Riverside Community Center provides services
to 16,000 people annually from Manhattan’s Upper
West Side and Harlem communities. Twenty-two programs
at 17 sites reach out to children and youth, families,
homeless people and older adults. Goddard Riverside,
a not-for-profit organization, provides basic services
such as meals, shelter and education, and enriches
community life with recreational, cultural, and arts
activities. The agency manages 600 units of affordable
housing. In addition, advocacy and legal services
offer individuals and groups a voice in their community
and a way to address critical social issues.
Goddard Riverside has a wide
range of experts available for interviews.
Caring for Families
In 2006-2007, more than 3,500 children and hundreds
of parents found guidance and support in Goddard Riverside’s
year-round programs. For children 2 ½ to six
years old, Goddard Riverside offers a Head Start Center
and Day Care Center that includes kindergarten. For
school-aged children, there is in-school, after-school,
evening, weekend and summer programs. And families
rely on Goddard Riverside for their help with life’s
crises, housing, and information on immigration, healthcare
and benefits.
Opening College Doors
Goddard Riverside’s OPTIONS Center for Educational
and Career Choice, started in 1985, has sent thousands
of young people to college who would not have had
the resources to complete the application process
or even pay for the SAT test. OPTIONS helps teens
create a vision of the future and gives them the tools
to attend college. A testament of OPTIONS’ success
is its replication in four other community centers
in New York City.
Showing Homeless People
A Way In Since 1979, Goddard Riverside has
been reaching out to those who live on the streets
and offering them a safe place where there is access
to medical care, life skills training, shelter, employment
and eventually permanent housing. In 2007, Goddard
Riverside laid the groundwork for a new initiative
and, with six partner agencies, developed the Manhattan
Outreach Consortium. The Consortium is responsible
for reaching out to all homeless people on the streets
of Manhattan and placing them in permanent housing
as quickly as possible.
Giving Dignity and Security
to Older Adults Goddard Riverside’s Senior
Center in Manhattan is a haven for seniors in the
neighborhood to congregate, socialize, learn and get
help. The building they come to for the Senior Center
is also the location of a 167-unit permanent residence
for seniors called Phelps House. In addition to recreation
and meals, the Senior Center staff members help people
with such issues as money management, health insurance
and adequate housing. Some participants live upstairs
in Phelps House and others come from nearby in the
community.
Keeping Social Justice
Alive Organizing and advocating for the basic
entitlement to a roof over one’s head, the 25-year-old
Goddard Riverside West Side SRO Law Project helps
more than 4,000 individuals and families who are at
risk of eviction. Affordable housing is a critical
issue, as is legislation surrounding social services,
public education, Medicare, immigration, voting rights
and teen employment. The Family Council is the heart
and soul of Goddard Riverside’s advocacy work.
It regularly organizes community and town hall meetings
and arranges busloads of people to make their voices
heard in rallies at City Hall or as far away as Albany
and Washington, D.C. Goddard Riverside is also a place
where people from all walks of life gather to celebrate
and help one another.
Providing Supportive
Housing Goddard Riverside gives people shelter
by operating five supportive housing facilities that
provide on-site support services for over 600 tenants.
This model enables older adults and formerly homeless
men and women to maintain living quarters on their
own. Each of the five residences provides medical
care, meals, recreational activities, a gamut of social
services and case management.
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