About Henry Street Settlement

For 128 years, Henry Street has been dedicated to breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Our target population includes underserved families, youth, and individuals from across New York City, with a focus on our Lower East Side community. Economic inequality in our neighborhood has risen sharply in recent years - we are second out of 59 NYC community districts for level of income disparity. Our neighbors face profound challenges, including social isolation; lack of housing and food; unemployment; lack of health care; undertreated and untreated medical and psychological disorders; poor educational achievement; and insufficient access to affordable arts experiences.

Henry Street Settlement was founded in 1893 by Lillian Wald, a nurse and early leader in the national movements for peace, women’s and children’s rights, labor, and health care. As a settlement house, Henry Street has a long history of responding to the needs of our community and pioneering groundbreaking programs to combat poverty and inequality. In 1902, for example, we funded the first nurse in a public school. Through the decades, we have continued to respond to our community’s most pressing needs: we opened the first apartment-style family homeless shelter in 1972; launched a job training program in 2001 for immigrant garment workers displaced by 9/11; won an Obie Award for the Abrons’ cutting-edge productions, residencies, and classes (2014); and in 2017, were selected by the Manhattan District Attorney to establish a LES Youth Opportunity Hub that provides access to programming that helps prevent young people’s engagement with the justice system.