Blog & News

Oumou Bah has a plan. First, she’ll get an undergraduate degree at New York University Ð “the perfect school” Ð in international studies and political science. Then, law school. She can tell you exactly why, in her quiet, rapid-fire way. “I grew up in Harlem and I observed how the prison system works in America,” […]

Angel Valerio wasn’t just looking for a job—he was looking for a role model. He found one through our newest program, Learning to Work. “I wanted to work for a company that’s black-owned,” said the 17-year-old Bronx resident. “I’d like to go into business myself so I wanted to learn the steps.” The program placed […]

A couple of times a month Steven Schmidt spends lunchtime with his friends at our Senior Center on Columbus Avenue. “There’s a table of Spanish-speaking ladies and I often sit with them,” he says. He likes to practice his language skills while catching up on what’s happening in their lives. What’s unusual is that Schmidt […]

Susan Matloff-Nieves, Goddard Riverside’s deputy executive director for youth and aging services, was inducted into the Notable Women in Human Services Hall of Fame on March 5 in Albany. Matloff-Nieves is “a tireless networker and mentor who brings people together for the common good,” wrote the Hall of Fame on its website. “She has been […]

Goddard Riverside’s Hudson Warehouse is debuting a brand-new adaptation of the Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice as part of Goddard Riverside’s Women History Artist Month (WHAM) festival. The novel has enchanted readers — and movie audiences — for generations with its tale of Elizabeth Bennet, her sisters, and the arrogant and alluring Mr. Darcy. […]

Rent reform is the hottest topic in Albany this year, and tenants activists working with the Goddard Riverside Law Project are helping to shape the conversation. On a recent Tuesday several tenant volunteers met up before dawn at the McDonald’s on Broadway and 95th. At 7 AM they piled into a charter bus for the […]

Plants hang in the window in the tidy Amsterdam Avenue apartment where Rosa Olan has lived for 16 years. She sits at a small dining table just inside the front door, next to the wall she painted herself with jaunty brown and white stripes. Olan worked hard for decades after moving here from Puerto Rico: […]

For Lujira Cooper—author, retiree, and graduate student—Capitol Hall is both a refuge and a launchpad. Cooper moved to our 87th Street supportive housing residence in 2015, after spending nearly a year homeless. Now, instead of spending her days trying to keep a roof over her head, she can pursue her dreams. “I’m hardly ever here,” […]

The sky is still black at 5:45 AM when homeless outreach specialists Eugene Lewis and Maribeth Gayle climb into a small SUV parked around the corner from their Chinatown office. With the temperature hovering below freezing, they’re bundled up in hats, boots and heavy jackets. The city has declared a Code Blue, meaning people staying […]