Grand Street Settlement
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| Formation | 1916 |
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Grand Street Settlement is an historic social service institution on the Lower East Side in New York City and was founded in 1916 in response to the needs of waves of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe who were settling in the area. Today, over 10,000 children, youth, families and older adults residing on the Lower East Side and Brooklyn are served through Grand Street Settlement's community-based programs.
Grand Street Settlement was founded in 1916 by a group of young adults who were part of the Stevenson Club at Madison House (the present Hamilton-Madison House). They noticed a need for smaller settlement houses in helping the under served communities of the Lower East Side achieve self-sufficiency. With the help of philanthropist Rose Gruening, they opened the Arnold Toynbee House (named after the British social reformer, Arnold Toynbee) in a brownstone at 257 Division Street. Eight years later, the settlement house was renamed Grand Street Settlement.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Settlement's main services were provided through clubs for girls and boys and young men and women. These clubs featured art, sewing, and dance. The Settlement also operated a kindergarten for the children of working parents and household management and child-rearing programs for parents.
In 1925, Camp Moodna in Orange County, New York was donated to Grand Street, offering a respite location for working girls who needed a break from the summer heat. Later years gave way to summer day camps for both boys and girls.
By the 1930s, the agency had expanded its services, and professionals began replacing volunteers on staff. Core programs in the late 1930s and during the 1940s included childcare, daycare, and health and personal services.
Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, and continuing to the present, the Lower East Side has seen the arrival of new immigrants, mostly from the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia.
Today, Grand Street Settlement focuses on four primary program areas: early childhood, children and youth, adults, and senior citizens. More than 10,000 community members participate annually in the agency's programs which are participant-driven.
Grand Street Settlement's early childhood programs currently serve over 400 children though Early Head Start, Head Start, and Day Care programs for newborns to age six.
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