SETTLING INTO A NEW NEIGHBORHOOD? HERE’S HELP

(Article published in HWW July-Aug 2003)

by Ken Walters, Director of Management and Technical Assistance, United Neighborhood Houses of New York

There are 36 settlement houses spread throughout Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Settlements provide a wide array of services and activities to individuals and families living in their communities. These services strive to meet the needs of people who have lived in their communities for many years and those who are new residents.

Settlements view residents as neighbors, not as clients. For those of you moving into new apartments, settlements are also places to help you find out about all services in your community; even those they don’t provide directly. In this way, settlements serve as community “living rooms” or “road maps” to help connect you to your neighbors as well as to neighborhood services.

Some services that most settlement houses provide or can help you find are: childcare, daycare, after-school programs, summer camps, teen recreation and socialization activities, individual and group counseling, arts and cultural programming, education programming for youth and adults, senior citizen programs, advocacy around entitlements tenants rights and other issues. Not all settlement houses provide all of these services, but most can tell you where you can find

them. If you need help finding the settlement house closest to your new apartment, call United Neighborhood Houses (UNH) at (212) 967-0322.