Henry Street Settlement opens doors of opportunity for Lower East Side residents and other New Yorkers through social service, arts, and health care programs.
For many Lower East Siders, Feb. 2, 1989 is fondly remembered for a singular break from the day-to-day: a visit from one of the world’s most visible and cherished celebrities, Diana, Princess of Wales. It was Henry Street Settlement’s Urban Family Center, which shelters 82 homeless families, that drew the “People’s Princess” to the neighborhood—one… Read More »
UPDATE: Our annual Joy Drive is over. Thank you so much to our generous gift givers! If you are still looking to help New Yorkers in need this holiday season, we hope you will consider making a donation or crowdfunding. Click here to check out Henry Street Settlement’s Joy Drive Amazon Registry. Be sure to… Read More »
“In times of need, act.” Henry Street Settlement’s visionary founder, Lillian Wald, created our organization 127 years ago, based on these five words. Fighting poverty and inequality at every opportunity, she left us a blueprint that pushes us every day to do more for our community. As the timeline inside shows graphically, the past year… Read More »
David Agosta lost his job as a waiter in early March 2020, after 12 years of working at a popular Brooklyn pizzeria. “The first day I didn’t go to work, I was panicking,” he says. David had read about the influenza pandemic of 1918 and knew this pandemic could be very serious. Wracked with anxiety,… Read More »
Big news: we’re taking our annual Town Hall online! Join us on Wednesday, October 21, 5:30-7:30 p.m., for an evening of safe, virtual community building. We’ll be joined by GOLES, Community Education Council-District 1, and West Side Campaign Against Hunger to discuss the issues facing our community, like: Feeding our Communities Getting Back to Work Fighting… Read More »
Henry Street Settlement President & CEO David Garza gives opening remarks at the fifth annual Lillian Wald Symposium, held over Zoom on September 24, 2020. In the midst of a critical election year, heated discourse surrounding mail-in voting and voter access, and the coronavirus pandemic, Henry Street Settlement held the fifth annual Lillian Wald Symposium,… Read More »
2020 is an important election year, and the 100 year anniversary of women gaining the right to vote! Join the Youth Opportunity HUB on Saturday, October 3, 2020, at 1 p.m., for a lively discussion of who gets to vote–from the past to the present. We will discuss the history of women and people of… Read More »
In April 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, New York City suspended the Summer Youth Employment Program—a program that for decades had provided critical work experience and income to thousands of young people. Henry Street was among many youth-service organizations that advocated for an alternative to the traditional SYEP program—one that would allow young people… Read More »
Please note that as of October 12, 2022, the Helpline is no longer active. If you would like to receive more information about Henry Street services, please call our main office at 212.766.9200. The Henry Street Helpline is live and available to anyone who needs help navigating the changes brought on by COVID-19. Call 347.493.2787… Read More »
The COVID-19 crisis sent our community into a freefall. The Lower East Side—dynamic, historic, and vibrant—has long been a place of intense struggle. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, half of the children lived at or below the poverty line, and more than a third of households received food stamps—nearly double the city average. The neighborhood… Read More »
