Strengthening Settlement Houses

On March 13th, UNH convened a meeting of the Board leadership of our 37 member settlement houses. UNH Board President Lew Kramer chaired this successful meeting, which brought together over 60 Board leaders and Executive Directors from member agencies for the first time in several years.

UNH Executive Director Nancy Wackstein opened the session with an overview of the UNH network of agencies as it exists today, as well as current and emerging challenges facing settlement houses in the current economic and political climate. She also highlighted for Board members some recent notable trends that have had an impact on UNH members.  For example, that City government has in the last several years  been focused on “economies of scale”, with procurement policies favoring larger citywide or borough-wide contracts rather than community-based ones;  this trend obviously challenges the settlement house approach.  Additionally, she discussed recent City requests for proposals (RFPs) that target specific zip codes as high need areas but will as a result  exclude or limit certain communities of need, especially those that serve public housing residents, from City funding opportunities.

Board leaders expressed their commitment to getting personally involved in convincing elected and government officials to maintain services that keep services community-based and allow families to continue working and contributing to New York City’s economy. There was a consensus in the room that this influential group of business leaders will be important to strengthening the voice of UNH and its membership. Board leaders pledged to become more involved with UNH’s advocacy work. UNH will also be creating a private social network for Board leaders to share best practices and other information across the settlement house community.

 The New York Nonprofit Press published an op-ed co-written by UNH Executive Director Nancy Wackstein and Executive Director of UNH Member University Settlement Society, Michael Zisser. This piece was a response to the recent closing of the historical Hull House in Chicago, one of the premiere settlement houses in this country, and tells the positive story about the effectiveness of settlement houses in recent decades in NYC.

"...The right story to tell is not about the unique issues confronting Hull House, which may never be fully known to the public, but instead about the incredible inventiveness, creativity, innovation, efficiency and effectiveness that has characterized the settlement house movement in recent decades. In New York City, there are now more than 37 independent settlement houses and community centers, which make up the membership of United Neighborhood Houses of New York. These  non-profit organizations serve more than 500,000 people each year across the five boroughs, operate from more than 400 sites, employ more than 10,000 staff, and have an aggregate budget from a combination of public and private sources that exceeds half a billion dollars each year.   UNH members are major employers in their communities and in many cases are significant economic engines, as well, through their purchase of goods and services."

Read the full op-ed.