Blog & News

Goddard Riverside mourns the passing of longtime supporter Mary Higgins Clark

Mary Higgins Clark is well known as the “Queen of Suspense.” One of the best-selling authors of all time, she wrote dozens of gripping tales that were loved around the world. At Goddard Riverside, however, she was equally renowned for her generosity. Besides donating to support our programs, Clark was the featured writer at multiple […]

Phelps House Tenant Testifies to Congress

On a recent afternoon, Geraldine Collins was sitting in the community room at Phelps House discussing her recent Congressional testimony. Suddenly a woman poked her head in the door. It was a fellow tenant who didn’t like the way her new showerhead had been installed. “Did you put in a work order?” Collins asked. “Okay, […]

Stopping Homelessness Before it Starts

Just a year and a half after being signed into law by Mayor Bill De Blasio, New York City’s groundbreaking Right to Counsel law is showing impressive results—and being adopted by cities and states across the country. Now Goddard Riverside is working with organizations across the city to strengthen and expand it. Before the law […]

Volunteers Sweeten Thanksgiving Meal

‘Twas the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and all through the basement of St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church, volunteers were making pies. At one station they mixed dough; at the next table they rolled it and fit it to pans; there was a separate station for the crumble topping specialists; and across the room […]

Brand-New Books Half Price at Goddard Riverside Book Fair

WHEN: Friday, Nov. 22, 6-9 PM Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 22-23, 10 am – 5 pmWHERE: Goddard Riverside Bernie Wohl Center 647 Columbus Ave (at 91st) Goddard Riverside’s longest-running and most popular fundraiser, our annual Book Fair, will take place this year on November 23 and 24 at the Bernie Wohl Center. The Book Fair […]

After Schoolers Explore the Final Frontier

Ask the second-graders at our Bernie Wohl Center about space, and the knowledge comes tumbling out. They talk over each other in their eagerness to share. “There are three shapes of galaxies! Spiral, elliptical and irregular.” “And we know one of the spiral galaxies, which is our galaxy Ð the Milky Way.” “Jupiter is the fifth […]

Gala Celebrates the Power of Community

Check out photos of the Gala on Facebook (no Facebook account necessary.) Feel free to tag yourself and share! “What sort of society do we want to live in?” That was the question posed by Goddard Riverside Executive Director Roderick L. Jones in his opening remarks at our 17th annual gala. And it was answered throughout […]

A visit from Paul Krugman, our 2019 Gala honoree

Paul Krugman is not your typical economist. Ask him which books have influenced him the most, and he doesn’t name-drop John Maynard Keynes or Adam Smith. Instead he talks about James Baldwin and Isaac Asimov. “I was a middle-class kid from Long Island,” he said on a recent visit to some of our programs. “Books […]

The Right Fit: Tutoring at Star Learning Center

Susan with a young Christian Susan Galligan wasn’t interested in working with children. When she retired from her job as a lawyer, she wanted to volunteer in adult literacy. But an advisor at a volunteer clearinghouse encouraged her to check out the Star Learning Center anyway. As soon as she saw Star’s cheerful book-lined space […]

The Book Fair and Book Bash are Back!

Goddard Riverside’s longest-running and most popular fundraiser, our annual Book Fair, will take place this year on November 23 and 24 at the Bernie Wohl Center. The Book Fair is made possible by our longstanding partnership with the publishing industry, which generously donates brand-new bestsellers every year to be sold at half-price. The proceeds fund […]