BronxWorks is a human service organization and

settlement house The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...

based in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

that was founded as

Citizens Advice Bureau Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this natio ...

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 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, 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.

History

Founded in 1972, BronxWorks’ initial focus was on working with seniors to resolve

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

and

entitlements An entitlement is a government program guaranteeing access to some benefit by members of a specific group and based on established rights or by legislation. A "right" is itself an entitlement associated with a moral or social principle, while an ...

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 The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

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 The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

neighborhoods. HIV/AIDS services were expanded to include

COBRA COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

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, building. BronxWorks joined United Neighborhood Houses (UNH), the

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

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. 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."New leader for BronxWorks." Bronx Times Reporter, May 16th, 2014, p. 6.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bronxworks Non-profit organizations based in the Bronx Charities based in New York City Settlement houses in New York City