BronxWorks

Last updated
BronxWorks
Bronxworks CAB 1130 GC jeh.jpg
Building at 1130 Grand Concourse
Named after The Bronx
Formation1972;50 years ago (1972)
FoundersMildred Zucker,
Founded at Morris Heights, Bronx
Type NGO
Focushumanitarian, settlement house
Headquarters60 East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453
Region
The Bronx
Executive Director
Eileen Torres
AffiliationsUnited Neighborhood Houses
Website www.bronxworks.org
Formerly called
Citizens Advice Bureau

BronxWorks is a human service organization and settlement house based in the Bronx, New York City that was founded as Citizens Advice Bureau in the Morris Heights section in 1972. The founders, social worker Mildred Zucker of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies and a group of local clergy, elected officials, and community advocates, initially modeled the organization on a similar agency in the United Kingdom, in which walk-in offices were established in every county to assist residents on queries about topics such as housing–related matters, consumer issues, and entitlements. [1]

Contents

History

Founded in 1972, BronxWorks’ initial focus was on working with seniors to resolve housing and entitlements issues. Throughout the 1970s, BronxWorks expanded its scope of services, creating the first minor home repair program for seniors in 1975.

In the 1980s, BronxWorks opened an office in the Bedford Park section of the north central Bronx in 1984, adding services for immigrants and securing city government funding for HIV/AIDS education and prevention services in 1988, and beginning work with the homeless in 1989. In the 1980s, they added three more walk-in offices in the Hunts Point neighborhood at Avenue St. John and one in the southwest Bronx at Townsend Avenue. An office was created to coordinate programs for seniors in the 1990s. Walk-in offices were opened in four South Bronx neighborhoods. HIV/AIDS services were expanded to include COBRA case management and SRO outreach. BronxWorks completed a merger with the Girls Club of New York in 1995, enabling the organization to secure a four-story, 38,000-square-foot (3,500 m2) building.

BronxWorks joined United Neighborhood Houses (UNH), the umbrella organization for the city’s settlement house system, in 1992. To prevent homelessness, BronxWorks established the Homeless Prevention Program in 1992. Since that time, it has helped more than 20,000 low-income Bronx families avoid homelessness. [2] BronxWorks had assumed responsibility for three seniors’ centers by the end of the 1990s.

Leadership

Eileen Torres was appointed the executive director on May 1, 2014. Torres served as interim executive director prior to the new appointment. She succeeded Carolyn McLaughlin who headed BronxWorks from 1979 to 2013. [3]

Related Research Articles

GMHC New York City–based non-profit AIDS service organization

The GMHC is a New York City–based non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization whose mission statement is to "end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives of all affected."

Henry Street Settlement United States historic place

The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founded under the name Nurses' Settlement in 1893 by progressive reformer and nurse Lillian Wald.

Los Angeles LGBT Center

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is a provider of programs and services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The organization's work spans four categories, including health, social services, housing, and leadership and advocacy. The Center is the largest facility in the world providing services to LGBT people.

Howard Brown Health is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) organization based in Chicago, United States. Originally founded as a healthcare provider, Howard Brown Health also provides a variety of social services in several locations in the Chicago area, ensuring its status as a center point to the Chicago LGBTQ community.

The Office of National AIDS Policy, established under President Clinton in 1993, coordinates the continuing domestic efforts to implement the President's National HIV/AIDS Strategy. In addition, the office works to coordinate an increasingly integrated approach to the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS. As a unit of the Domestic Policy Council, the Office of National AIDS Policy coordinates with other White House offices. It is led by a director, who is appointed by the president.

Hamilton-Madison House is a voluntary, non-profit settlement house dedicated to improving the quality of life of its community, primarily that of the Two Bridges/Chinatown area of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The neighborhood is a federally designated poverty area, with a constantly changing mixture of ethnic groups, and lack of adequate services and resources. An average income of a family living in the area is $17,000. Further, more than 25% of the seniors live on less than $15,000 a year, of which 40% goes toward housing. In the past 108 years, Hamilton-Madison House has developed programs that meet the changing needs of its community. In 1965, with a change in federal immigration policies, the community's predominant immigrant became Chinese New Yorkers. Since that time, the organization's staff has grown to include a staff of 300 who collectively speak 15 languages, including 6 Chinese dialects. Further, the House's long-standing programs have been adapted to meet the cultural norms of this expanding population.

HIV.gov, formerly known as AIDS.gov, is an internet portal for all United States federal domestic HIV and AIDS resources and information. On World AIDS Day, December 1, 2006, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched AIDS.gov. The site contains content and links that guide users to their desired information.

APLA Health

APLA Health is non-profit organization, whose mission is "to achieve health care equity and promote well-being for the LGBT and other underserved communities and people living with and affected by HIV."

Whitman-Walker Health (WWH), formerly Whitman-Walker Clinic, is a non-profit community health center in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with a special expertise in HIV/AIDS healthcare and LGBT healthcare. Founded as an affirming health center for the gay and lesbian community in 1978, Whitman-Walker was one of the first responders to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in D.C. and became a leader in HIV/AIDS education, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, Whitman-Walker has expanded its services to include primary healthcare services, a stronger focus on queer women's care and youth services.

NMAC, formerly known as the National Minority AIDS Council, works for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic in America. The nonprofit organization, located in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1987. NMAC represents over 3,000 community- and faith-based organizations across the US. The agency advances its mission by providing minority and minority-serving faith- and community-based organizations with capacity building assistance programs, online and classroom-based trainings, printed and electronic resources, grassroots organization and political advocacy. These activities improve the delivery of HIV/AIDS services, helping to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in underserved and marginalized communities.

Cass Community Social Services American nonprofit organization

Cass Community Social Services, Inc. is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) community-based organization headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, serving Southeastern Michigan, Wayne County, under the direction of a volunteer Board of Directors. Cass Community Social Services has occasionally engaged In acts of political activism, usually In protest of city and state budget cuts.

Founded in 1983, AIDS Vancouver (AV) is a non-profit and community-based health organization whose mission is to alleviate collective vulnerability to HIV and AIDS through support, public education and community-based research. The organization exists to both ameliorate the life of persons living with HIV and AIDS, and to prevent the spread of HIV by educational initiatives. Based in Vancouver, it is Canada's oldest and Vancouver's largest HIV and AIDS service organization.

AIDS Service Center NYC

The Alliance for Positive Change - formerly known as AIDS Service Center NYC(ASCNYC) - is a community organization that helps New Yorkers living with HIV and other chronic illnesses. Founded in 1990 by CEO Sharen Duke, ASCNYC provides direct services to over 1,800 New Yorkers per year, while its peer education programs and community outreach initiatives reach an additional 18,000. In 2017, the organization formally changed its name to The Alliance for Positive Change. This change came as the nonprofit expanded to help more New Yorkers with substance use and mental health issues, and program participants with chronic illnesses such as hepatitis, diabetes, and heart disease.

Action Wellness is a nonprofit organization serving Philadelphia and the greater metro region. The organization was co-founded in 1986 by Anna Forbes, Jim Littrell, and Bob Schoenberg and has long been the largest HIV social service agency in the state of Pennsylvania.

HSI is a nonprofit social services organization in New York City that manages and develops housing programs for lower income households and New Yorkers with special needs.

Palladia, Inc. is a social services organization in New York City, working with individuals and families challenged by addiction, homelessness, AIDS, domestic violence, poverty and trauma. Founded in 1970, Palladia was known as Project Return Foundation until 2002. The organization began as a drug treatment facility and evolved to address the concerns of its clients, developing services such as domestic violence shelters, outpatient drug treatment programs, parenting programs, AIDS outreach, alternatives to incarceration, and transitional and permanent housing. Today Palladia serves over 1300 clients daily.

Kingsbridge Heights Community Center

Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC) is a settlement house founded in 1974 by community activists Janet Athanasidy, Patricia Burns, and Mary McLoughlin, serving the Kingsbridge Heights neighborhood and the Bronx. KHCC offers programs and services in multiple sites for more than 4,500 people annually. Guided by the settlement house model of community development and involvement, KHCC is a member of United Neighborhood Houses of New York City. KHCC’s mission is to “empower Bronx residents from cradle to career to advance education and well-being for a vibrant community. ”

La Alianza Hispana is a social service agency founded in 1969 by residents of Roxbury/ North Dorchester to support Boston's Hispanic population. La Alianza advocates for equal access to services and public resources for the Hispanic Community by combating the effects of discrimination, poverty and challenges of migration.

Ivan Monforte is a Mexican performance artist based in New York. His work aspires to start a dialogue for disenfranchised members of the LGBT community about sexuality, love, sex, and loss.

David Fair American activist

David Fair is an American activist who has been a leader in the labor, LGBT, AIDS, homeless and child advocacy movements in Philadelphia, PA since the 1970s. He has founded or co-founded several advocacy and service organizations, including the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force (1977), the Philadelphia Gay Cultural Festival (1978), Lavender Health (1979), the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Union of the Homeless (1985), Philly Homes 4 Youth (2017), and the Philadelphia Coalition on Opioids and Children (2018), and led the creation of numerous local government health and human service initiatives, including the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Division of Community-Based Prevention Services, the Parenting Collaborative, and the Quality Parenting Initiative for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.

References

  1. "An Introduction to BronxWorks". HuntJobs. Retrieved 28 June 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. "Volunteers to scour Bronx next week to count homeless living in borough". NYDailyNews.com. 2010-06-15. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
  3. "New leader for BronxWorks." Bronx Times Reporter, May 16th, 2014, p. 6.