Blog & News

Stephan Russo speaking at a rally for supportive housing in 2015

“There Clearly Are Answers”: A Lifetime of Lessons in Fighting Homelessness

Learn more about our supportive housing and homeless outreach programs! The current controversy over homelessness on the Upper West Side has made headlines across the country. But to former Goddard Riverside Executive Director Stephan Russo, it’s old news — part of an decades-long battle over who “belongs” on the Upper West Side and who doesn’t. […]

Executive Director Roderick L. Jones and host Angela Henry share the podium at the 2019 Goddard Gala

From the Book Fair to the Gala, our Fall Events are On!

Goddard Riverside’s festive fall gatherings are going forward — but they’ll look a little different this year due to COVID-19. As usual, the Annual Gala leads the way. Instead of one night, this year’s Gala will fill five consecutive Thursday evenings in October. Each of these online events will feature a different thought leader on […]

Law Project Wins A Battle—But Landlord’s War Against Tenants Continues

What if you woke up one morning to discover your building had become a hotel? Strangers arriving late at night, talking and smoking in the halls. Sex workers renting rooms for business. Out-of-towners throwing loud parties. It happened to Richard Amelius. “We started seeing maid carts and they were fully occupying the elevator all day […]

Activists crowd the NYC City Hall steps holding a variety of banners including Goddard Riverside's

Why We Fight for Housing

Ninety-seven hours a week. Two and a half full-time jobs! That’s how much the the average minimum-wage earner in the U.S. would have to work in order to rent a two-bedroom home. Having a decent place to live is essential to realizing your full potential. But housing is simply out of reach for far too many […]

Side-by-side photos of Antonio Cortorreal and Lamiya Rahman, each wearing a shirt from the school they will attend i the fall

“I Want to Create a Path”: Options Scholars Prepare to Shine

There are lots of things that inspire people to become doctors. Lamiya Rahman’s high school lab class is one of the more unusual ones. “I got got a chance to take forensics. We conducted autopsy reports on Barbie dolls!” she says on the phone from her famiily’s home in Jackson Heights.  Rahman also enjoyed anatomy […]

Direct Relief: The Next Front in the Fight against COVID-19

Help vulnerable New Yorkers survive the crisis. Donate to our COVID Relief Fund. When the economy takes a downturn, Wayne Tyre knows. Tyre is the director of our Resource Center, a one-stop shop for assistance with government benefits, health insurance, food aid, legal assistance and more. Since the Coronavirus hit, his phones have been ringing […]

A girl slides headfirst toward the camera on a slip 'n slide at our Lincoln Square Summer Camp

Help Us Save Summer Youth Programs

Steven Portericker remembers his first summer job—which he got at age 14 through New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). “I felt proud of myself and confident,” he recalls. “It was great to feel like my presence mattered.” Portericker, a senior manager who helps oversee all of Goddard’s youth programs, stayed in SYEP for […]

Young people wearing masks hold boxes of hand sanitizers and masks in front of a NYCHA building

Teaming Up with NYCHA Tenants to Strengthen Public Housing

Cynthia Tibbs had a dilemma. The state had just delivered hand sanitizer and face masks to her office – items which, as president of the Westside Urban Renewal Tenants Association, she knew her neighbors were clamoring for. But her buildings are brownstones and they don’t have elevators. “I have 36 walkup buildings,” she explains. “I […]