A Message from Our CEO
Dear friends,
Human relationships can be a kind of alchemy. It’s not just that we need one another – it’s that there’s really no limit to what we can do when we get together.
University Settlement partners with our neighbors in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn to build collaborative programs that empower New Yorkers to pursue their dreams.
With your support, we do this with more than 40,000 people every year. Across our 30+ locations, we create affordable, high-quality early childhood education; connection and community for older neighbors; mental health care everyone can access; comprehensive development opportunities for young people; enhanced housing stability; resources for welcoming immigrants into our communities; and access to the arts for everyone.
As a 21st century settlement house, we’re always plugged into new approaches that can help us do our work more effectively – and we know there’s no substitute for human connection.
Our humanity makes a difference everywhere in our work, helping us see around corners and past categories to find new and better ways of doing things. You can see our humanity in a child’s joy when she understands a lesson, and when members of our community step into new leadership roles. It shows up in the ways we encourage learning and growth, and in the care that drives our teams to keep searching for inspired solutions alongside our neighbors.
Within every person, there’s tremendous possibility we can most fully express in partnership with one another. Powered by humanity, University Settlement helps New Yorkers realize our full potential.
Founded 139 years ago on values that remain vital today, including access to opportunity, safety, progress, and belonging, we’re working to ensure that everyone’s basic needs are met so everyone can take part in culture, learning, and the civic sphere. And because we are a settlement house, our approaches are always collaborative, holistic, and integrated to engage the whole person, the whole family, and the whole neighborhood.
By bringing these values into every relationship we build with our neighbors, we build a New York City that works for everyone.
Thanks to your partnership and support, we are empowered to continue building community strength.
In gratitude,
Melissa Aase
In 2024, our humanity powered…
A new initiative to prevent gun violence and build community-led safety in Fort Greene
“G.R.E.E.N.E. (Generating Real Empathy, Encouraging Nonviolent Engagement) is University Settlement teaming up with Switching Lifestylez to keep our neighbors connected and safe – our teams of credible messengers interrupt violence by building relationships, so we can engage more effectively in moments of crisis. In addition to violence interruption, G.R.E.E.N.E. also connects youth to job training and job opportunities and hosts a wide variety of events where community members of all ages can gather to celebrate culture and resilience.”
Angel Sacarello
Senior Program Director, Cornerstone Community Centers
The Creative Center’s vital innovation at the intersection of arts and health
“For more than 30 years, The Creative Center has built on our founding insight: ‘Medicine heals the body, but art heals the soul.’ Our offerings range from free daily art workshops for people living with cancer and other chronic illnesses, to Artists-in-Residence partnerships with 10 NYC hospitals, to consulting with organizations who seek to integrate arts-in-healthcare approaches into their programming for older adults.
Our 23rd annual Training Institute convened artists, gerontologists, creative arts therapists, and educators to learn everything needed to implement effective arts programming in healthcare settings — and was our most successful yet!”
Sheila Fontanive
Manager of Arts and Wellness, The Creative Center @ University Settlement
Conversations about how to build human-centered social services bringing together leaders from NYC’s spectrum of care and our global movement
“We hosted our friends Helle Øbo and Annika Svensson from Danish settlement house AskovFonden and senior leaders from NYC’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Mayor’s Office for Community Mental Health, and NYC Aging for a high-level discussion about how bureaucratic systems can better accommodate approaches that center human relationships. Noting that ‘families don’t exist in administrative boxes,’ our panelists discussed the ways their systems are prioritizing human relationships, including ACS’s work to ensure that support doesn’t automatically end when young people age out of foster care.”
Mary Adams
Associate Executive Director, Mental Health + Wellness
Our Impact
Powered by Humanity, we’re building a New York City that works for everyone
University Settlement is a place where children, families, older adults, immigrants, activists, dancers, athletes, caregivers, educators, leaders, communities, and New Yorkers can build community with one another and fully express their human potential.
Established in 1886 as the first settlement house in the United States, we bring the values of that movement into the 21st century by:
- Fighting poverty and systemic inequality with responsive programs and advocacy;
- Engaging all members of the community from newborns to elders;
- Joyfully nurturing the whole person by addressing basic needs including food, education, culture, learning, and community.
94%
of cases handled by our housing advocacy team Project Home resulted in our neighbors staying in their homes.
2,200
older adults in our neighborhoods stayed independent, healthy, and connected through our community centers and home-based engagement programs.
90%
of high school students who participated in our College Passport program attended a 2-year or 4-year college upon graduation.
615
children in our communities enjoyed creative, supportive, free summer camp experiences where they could make lifelong friends.
85%
of students graduating from our early childhood education programs were kindergarten-ready in terms of math, literacy, and social-emotional skills.
483
adults grew their English fluency and opened new doors for themselves through our Adult Literacy Program.
Stories from FY24
Making our older neighbors feel seen, heard, and celebrated
With age comes wisdom, a more secure way of looking at the world based on a lifetime of experience. It also presents physical and emotional challenges. And living in New York City can compound both experiences – while this environment can be unforgiving, it also gives us tremendous access to community, culture, and joy.
University Settlement’s programs for adults over 60 first ensure that our older neighbors have their basic needs met and then go further to engage bodies, minds, and spirits.
Wellness Together, the new model for engaging homebound older adults in our communities, has two distinct phases. First, our social workers make home visits to conduct assessments and understand priorities; in the beginning of these relationships we’re helping with nutrition, rent and landlord issues, and other basic needs, including by making referrals to Meals on Wheels and Project Home and other internal and external partners.
Then, after we’ve ensured that situations are stabilized, we focus on making community connections, including by coordinating virtual health and wellness workshops and discussions of art and history. Neighbors are also paired with volunteers who check in regularly to ensure everything’s going well.
In recognition of the powerful benefits of this approach, in FY24 we won a contract from New York City to significantly expand Wellness Together. Where we had previously had the ability to partner with around 200 people, our expanded team can now enagage more than 1,000 of our Lower Manhattan neighbors this way, including Jacqueline B.:
I am a creative, and for a long time I was working as an eco-artist. I’ve lived here on East 4th Street since the early ‘80s.
I learned about University Settlement and Wellness Together from my physician who has been helping me through my health challenges.
At one point I couldn’t walk very far, and we were having conversations about how to take care of me at home. My doctor suggested that I find some help to receive meals, if I could not get out of the building.
Food delivery, and the support your program provides, have been a good thing. I have pain flares, and when I’m not out, or when neighbors or my godson aren’t able to help, I have trays of food coming a few times a week.
Talking about my injury can be an emotional thing for me.
I was walking up the Avenue near Tompkins Square Park. A family was strolling, there was a young kid on a Razor scooter, and he wasn’t quite adept with it. I remember hearing his mother say, “Don’t ride the scooter on the sidewalk,” and the scooter fishtailed and hit my foot. And I hit the ground.
I injured my ankle. I got shuttled around to a few different doctors, but by the time I saw a neurologist, the nerve damage was done, and it was too late. I didn’t get the help I could have gotten. My foot was paralyzed, and I can’t walk very well without a brace. I also need a walking stick, or crutches.
Prior to this, I had been traveling to work on projects, and this meant that I couldn’t do that anymore. I was making art in nature in Costa Rica, and I couldn’t go back.
With Wellness Together, I know that I can reach out any time I need some support, and John is very good at getting back to me. If I have a challenge, or if there’s a problem that I’m not sure I can solve on my own, we can figure it out together.
John knows the community well, and he’s very helpful. Our relationship is new, we have just started talking to each other and learning from one another. He’s been very willing to help with technology, and he helps me get what I need.
Support like Wellness Together is one of the good things that happens in this neighborhood.
It’s important to have organizations and people who will work with you, people who are willing to interact. Some people just don’t see you. I’m a queer elder. Seniors – we’re people, and people want to be seen and heard.
When it comes to managing my mobility challenges – life goes on. I work with my doctors to deal with pain and weakness. If there’s a miracle coming my way for nerve damage, that would be great.
I miss nature, I miss doing projects on a larger scale.
In my family, we were introduced to music and art early on. That was instrumental to my having the guts and the nerve to make art, and have it mean something.
When one creates, there’s a transformation that happens. Creating changes the artist, it brings them more in touch with their spiritual self, with their humanity, it reminds us of why we’re here. When people are looking at my work, I want them to see a part of me, but I want them to see a part of themselves, as well.
My life has been an adventure, and it continues to be. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve met a lot of funny, spiritual, artistic, well-rounded people. I have great neighbors. Every day above ground is worth it.
Community-based mental healthcare that supports families right where they live
In a family, everyone is connected to everyone else – so when challenges arise for a child, it can affect parents and caregivers in surprising and unexpected ways.
University Settlement’s broad continuum of mental health services provide high-quality, culturally sensitive mental health supports ranging from “light touches” to psychiatric services for nearly 8,000 people in our communities every year.
A formal diagnosis is not required for families to partner with programs including Families Thriving and Children & Family Treatment and Support Services (CFTSS), meaning that our teams can engage families navigating unfamiliar challenges and provide supportive care that often extends past specific mental health concerns.
When her daughter stopped communicating at school, Ms. Chen and her family began partnering with CFTSS to understand what was going on. Ms. Chen shared how our social worker Baiyang’s holistic engagement helped her navigate her daughter’s diagnosis and the additional strains her family experienced as a result:
We were working with another social services organization before, but when we came to University Settlement, we immediately felt a big difference. The people here make me feel like they care about what my family is going through, not just completing tasks. And the people I meet here are genuinely interested in helping me, including our social worker Baiyang.
When my daughter started school, she wouldn’t talk to people, but we didn’t realize it was autism – we never thought of that. She would speak with us at home, so we didn’t think there was a problem. It took years and many assessments until she was correctly diagnosed. When she was in middle school, during the pandemic, everything came to a head. We didn’t know how to handle it – our household was in chaos, and everyone was at a loss. But Baiyang came and taught me step-by-step what to do next.
My husband didn’t accept that my daughter had autism, and we would argue a lot, very intensely. My husband just didn’t understand. I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know where to move, and it was very difficult. I went to the police and reported it, but they just said, “Wherever you move, we can help you with the first month’s rent,” and that was it – nothing more came of it. I really feel that Baiyang helped me in that moment. She gave me a phone number for a domestic violence hotline and advised me on all of my options, and she kept asking me how I was doing afterward. She was like a neighbor, and it made me feel very warm. He has now moved out, and we’re living separately.
Autism manifests differently in each person, which is one reason why we had trouble accepting what was happening. My daughter understands a lot of things, like when I’m going to work or when I’m going to the grocery store. In the beginning, because she didn’t speak, I gradually stopped talking to her – I thought that since she didn’t respond, she didn’t understand. Now I’ve learned how to communicate with her. But if you don’t come to terms with it, it’s hard.
Now I also understand why my husband reacted the way he did – he thought of our daughter as his treasure, and suddenly that treasure changed. It felt like his whole world had changed, like everything was fake. It was hard to get through that time, but Baiyang’s support made a big difference.
When I think back on those times, I feel like crying – I was truly overwhelmed, but I feel like University Settlement guided me through this situation. I sincerely hope that other families facing difficulties can be guided out of their struggles. I hope that your organization continues to grow so it can help even more people.
Some people think that an organization that’s trying to help might not have enough experience – they think, ‘Every family is different, how can you help me? What you’re saying doesn’t apply to me.’ Many parents think, ‘You’ve learned a lot, but you don’t understand our family’s situation.’ But what they need to know is that difficulties like what my family went through can’t be solved in one or two days – it takes time to understand the situation, come up with the right approach, and slowly resolve things.
I hope that every family has someone to help them and that they’re able to accept that help. It’s important to recognize that some problems can’t be solved alone – one person’s thinking, or one family’s, is limited. And no problem can’t be solved.
Ensuring students in our communities have access to the support and resources they need to achieve their college dreams
Remember high school? It’s a challenging chapter for many of us. As teens we’re navigating increasing demands at school (and often at work) and dealing with new stresses in our relationships with friends and family, all as we’re expected to figure out what we want to do with our futures. And while we know that almost every student dealing with these pressures could benefit from additional supportive relationships, they’re often hard to access.
For young people in our communities, education represents their best chance to break generational cycles of poverty – and it’s also our society’s best hope for seeing their full human potential expressed. But preparing academically and applying for college is complicated, stressful, and expensive.
Last year, University Settlement’s Wellness Bridge connected more than 200 NYC high school students in Manhattan and Brooklyn to mental health resources including individual and family therapy, social-emotional workshops, parent support, and crisis avoidance. Partnering closely with schools, the Wellness Bridge supported students’ journey to graduation and onward to college (or whatever else they dream of).
A collaboration of our college access program College Passport, our community-based mental health initiative Families Thriving, and our comprehensive mental health clinic, the Consultation Center, the Wellness Bridge is now in its second pilot year, funded by a collaborative grant from the Solon E. Summerfield Foundation, The Carmel Hill Fund, and the Gray Foundation.
At the social-emotional workshop shown in these photos, held at Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School of the Arts (one of this program’s partner schools, alongside East Side Community School in the East Village), participants had a spirited discussion about their feelings about standardized testing, in advance of the New York State Regents Exam. Guiding the conversation, Wellness Bridge staff asked students to reflect on the concept of “positive self-talk” and how it could help test-takers manage and cope with anxiety.
Jewell Campbell leads this program for us:
Programs like this are particularly powerful for high school students because we’re addressing critical mental health needs at a pivotal moment in their lives.
Envisioning a future where our powerful young people are thriving, we’re creating environments where mental health is prioritized to help students better navigate the pressures of academic and personal life.
Since we launched the Wellness Bridge, I’ve seen students gain confidence and begin to express themselves more effectively because they can identify their feelings.
At our pilot schools, we are ensuring that mental health and wellness become foundational elements toward academic and personal success.
By supporting students’ well-being while also contributing to our broader community’s understanding of mental health and how we collectively approach these subjects, we’re making a lasting impact. Our holistic approach to youth development addresses the problems students face while also proactively laying the groundwork for a healthier, more resilient generation.
Research demonstrates that emotional well-being drives personal fulfillment and success both academically and interpersonally.
Our ongoing mental health crisis – which has seen the rate of New York City high school students feeling persistent sadness and hopelessness increase an average of 4% every year for the last ten years – is impacting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) youth at disproportionate rates, and it’s time for reimagined approaches.
With Families Thriving and the Wellness Bridge, we’ve seen how powerful it is to integrate flexible, equitable mental health services within community places. Youth meet with our staff year-round, in and outside of school, and can stay on with us through college. We’re seeing families and youth taking the initiative to engage with our services. Most of all, we’re seeing the possibilities that can happen when we collaborate with our neighbors and partners to prioritize and democratize mental health.
Our Approach
What can we build together?
Since 1886, we’ve been community-led. There’s no wrong door – we’re continually expanding upon our programs’ integration with one another, so we can rapidly connect our neighbors with community, resources, and support.
Great job opportunities for young people
Do you remember your first job? From learning how to collaborate, to understanding how to respond to feedback, to that all-important first paycheck, our first experience of the working world can be enormously influential, and a great first job can set young people up for success.
In 2024, our Youth & Community programs employed 20 high school students as paid interns in collaboration with Ladders for Leaders.
Partnering with neighbors at our three Cornerstone Centers (at Campos Plaza, Ingersoll, and Atlantic Terminal) and our Beacon at East Side Community School, our interns gained valuable training and experience while serving our communities.
100% of our interns expressed a strong desire to continue in similar job placements. Intern Devin Joaquin said, “I feel like [this experience] has made me better as a person, and more of an adult.”
Supportive mental healthcare for survivors
Our mental health clinicians identified a critical gap in access to long term mental health supports for domestic violence (DV) survivors entering safe housing, and they partnered with New Destiny Housing to build a streamlined and supportive referral process.
In 2024 we connected more than 180 survivors (and in many cases their children) to our comprehensive continuum of care. A $250k grant from New York State will allow us to begin partnering in this way with additional DV crisis organizations.
Program Director Jingjing Wu said: “If you’ve been isolated and threatened and hurt, finding housing is good, therapy is good, but they’re pieces of the pie. Recovering from this experience is multi-faceted, and a more comprehensive approach creates space for people and families to begin healing. We are helping people get back into their lives.”
Comprehensive social-emotional support for children and families
Supporting families as children develop social-emotional resources is an important way we build community strength. Butterflies, our Early Childhood Mental Health program, embeds clinicians into each of our early childhood centers, where they assess young learners’ social and emotional wellness. In 2024, we assessed 85% of children in our programs. This approach, which helps our teams identify children and families that would benefit from enhanced comprehensive learning supports, sets us apart from other NYC early childhood providers.
“Butterflies clinicians also lead programming that helps our teachers partner more effectively with parents and caregivers to support our young learners,” said Marilus Castellanos, Senior Program Director, Early Childhood Mental Health and Family Wellness. “This can mean anything from helping teachers think through the ways their lessons are engaging children’s emotions, to conducting caregiver workshops (like the one seen here, at Children’s Corner in East New York), to consulting with families about behaviors they’re noticing at home.”
Our Programs
We fight poverty and systemic inequality by engaging our neighbors of all ages, from newborns to elders, with innovative, responsive programs that address basic needs while facilitating culture, learning, and community.
early Childhood
We supported more than 900 young children and their families with a spectrum of education and care services including center-based learning, neighborhood-based family childcare, and home-based assistance.
Youth Development
We create safe, fun, purpose-driven environments for more than 6,000 youth annually. Our after-school, summer camp, and college access programs are rooted in positive youth development and social-emotional learning models that build students’ self-awareness, self-expression, and leadership skills.
Older Adults
We engage over 2,200 low-income seniors annually through a network of services including meals, health, wellness, recreational activities, case assistance and management, housing counseling, and referral resources.
Mental Health & Wellness
More than 8,000 people receive high-quality mental health supports ranging from “light touches” to psychiatric care from our culturally sensitive professionals every year, helping individuals and families in our communities navigate the challenges life can present.
Advocacy & Community Action
We strategically engage our representatives on issues including access to safe housing, healthcare, and quality education. Through advocacy, we aim to secure access to resources for thousands of our neighbors, and support policies that empower New Yorkers to achieve healthy, stable, and remarkable lives.
Housing Stability
We combat homelessness by partnering with our neighbors to identify financial problems and solve them before they lead to eviction; in 2024, more than 1,000 New Yorkers were more stably housed thanks to Project Home.
Creative Arts
Art helps build healthy communities and we engage thousands of our neighbors with two distinct arts programs: The Creative Center, which brings art’s healing power into healthcare settings; and The Performance Project, which fosters collaboration between professional artists and our communities to produce relevant and powerful culture.
Adult English Classes
450+ adult immigrants in NYC participate in our comprehensive 10-month English and civic education program annually – building language and systems literacy skills to navigate life in our complex city, support their families, and achieve their goals.
Our Financials
Our budget in FY24 was $56 million.
How our budget breaks down by program
how we’re funded
Charity Navigator gives University Settlement a 99% score and names us as a Four-Star Charity – their highest rating – based on our financial stability, efficiency, sustainability, and our commitment to strong governance practice and policies.
Our Donors
Thank you to everyone who supported our programs during Fiscal Year 2024!
The donors listed below made gifts or provided funding to University Settlement during the 2024 fiscal year: July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024.
Private Funders
Government Funders
Elected Officials
Board of Directors
Renée Eubanks
Co-Chair
Benjamin Schall
Co-Chair
Frederick Yee
Treasurer
Aviva Will
Secretary
Ken C. Joseph
Vice President
Leonard Berman
Vice President
Ronni Fisher
Vice President for Programs
Christina Chiu
Aaron Daniels
Steven R. Green
Hale Gurland
Eric B. Gyasi
Rich Médor
Patrick Michel
Thomas Morgan
*In memoriam
Melissa Aase
CEO
Aisha Oliver-Staley*
Marie-Laure Romney
Steven Schall
Peter Siroka
Harly Stevens
Habiba Waziruddin
Joanna R. Weiner
Andrew Zhu
Ian Zilla