Contact: Trish Anderton, Senior Director of Public Relations | tanderton@goddard.org | (m) 332-600-1293
Goddard Riverside is proud to announce the appointment of its president, Roderick L. Jones, to the city’s Charter Revision Commission. The NYC Commission to Strengthen Local Democracy, as it’s known, will perform a comprehensive review of the City Charter to strengthen local democracy and enhance government accountability and transparency.
“As a native New Yorker, I count it an honor to join the effort to preserve and enhance the City Charter. This seminal document helps ensure strong governance of one of the largest and best-known cities in the world,” said Jones.
The Commission was created by City Council in 2024 with the passage of Local Law 121. It consists of 17 commissioners—nine appointed by the Council Speaker and the rest appointed by the Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, and five Borough Presidents. It has committed to holding an open, inclusive process that prioritizes robust public engagement to develop proposals that improve city government. It will not consider proposals that weaken local democracy or New Yorkers’ rights. Its chairs are Arva Rice, president & CEO of the New York Urban League, and Henry A. Garrido, executive director of District Council 37, New York City’s largest public employee union.
Jones’s career is a testament to his commitment to social justice and community development. He grew up in the Cypress Hills projects in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood. He went to college expecting to go into law, but before long found himself drawn to youth work. After rising through the ranks of settlement houses in upstate New York, he moved to St. Louis in 2008 to take the reins of the historic Grace Hill Settlement House.
Returning to New York City in 2017, Jones assumed the top job at Goddard Riverside, where he reaffirmed the organization’s mission to build a just society and empower individuals to make the best choices for themselves and their families. Since then, he has led Goddard through the completion of a merger with the Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center on the Upper West Side and an ongoing merger with the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center on the Upper East Side. He has prioritized building multiple pathways to success for young people growing up in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and is pursuing a multi-generational model of programming to support whole families in lifting themselves from poverty.
Jones’s leadership has been widely recognized, earning him the 2022 Gay City News Impact Award, the 2024 Nonprofit Trailblazer honor from City and State Magazine, and recognition as a 2024 Nonprofit Power Player by PoliticsNY and amNY Metro.
With his deep roots in community-building and commitment to social justice, Jones’s appointment to the Charter Revision Commission marks another significant step in his dedication to strengthening New York City’s democratic foundations.
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Goddard Riverside serves some 22,000+ people each year through more than 30 programs on the Upper West Side, throughout Manhattan, and in Queens. The agency promotes dignity and self-reliance across generations, working every day for a fair and just society where all people have the opportunity to make choices that lead to better lives for themselves and their families. With roots in the settlement house movement, Goddard has served New Yorkers for nearly 175 years.
Goddard’s work includes early childhood education, after school, youth programs, support for alternative paths to a high school diploma, employment training, individualized tutoring, older adult centers, Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) and older adult housing. Known as a leader in the fight against homelessness, Goddard provides homeless outreach services for much of Manhattan along with transitional and supportive housing. Its behavioral health services include mobile mental health clinics, a psychosocial clubhouse, and a supported employment program.