report.universitysettlement.orgUniversity Settlement FY22 Annual Report

Impact Approach Financials Donors Share Give Today Share Give Today A PLACE TO GROW Annual Report 2022 A message from our CEO Dear friends, With your support, University Settlement builds stronger communities in partnership with 40,000 New Yorkers on the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn every year. Our programs ensure that our neighbors of all ages, from babies to elders, have everything they need to thrive: food, education, mental health care, the arts, belonging, self-determination, and more. And because we are a settlement house, our programs don’t exist in isolation – they’re coordinated and integrated to engage the whole person, the whole family, and the whole neighborhood. We believe that every one of us should have a safe and vibrant city where we can create good lives. That’s why University Settlement is a Place to Grow. In every interaction we have with our neighbors – every counseling session, every ballroom dance class, every housing court appearance, every language lesson, every voter registration drive – we are building on strengths and supporting growth. At University Settlement, as in the world, growth means many things. Our children grow by learning, and our neighborhoods grow, too, when they become more inclusive and more resilient. Our organization grows when we build our capacity and measurable impact. And our participants and staff grow in their lives with us, too. All these types of growth help us build stronger neighborhoods – as does your support. Thank you for your commitment to our communities, and for helping us grow. In gratitude, Melissa Aase Read Less − Our Mission Can’t play this video? UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT IS A PLACE WHERE… READ MORE CLOSE Young people discover new ideas and new ambitions Our after-school programs partner with organizations like BioBus to bring trained scientists and educators with backgrounds in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) into our communities. We’re trying to expose our young people to new ideas, hoping that they’ll get excited and want to learn more - and even consider careers in STEM. It makes science accessible and fun, something to look forward to.” — Greg Robertson, Senior Director, YouthCommunity Programs, Manhattan READ MORE CLOSE People living with cancer grow through creative expression We organize regular trips to NYC cultural institutions, including the New Museum, that include educator-led tours and on-site art-making workshops. As you age in New York, it can be difficult to connect with people and find social opportunities that still engage you in your passions. Viewing art in person together can be powerfully communal. Our participants are interested in complex ideas and looking for opportunities to have conversations about challenging topics, and to relate these ideas back to their own art-making. It provides a positive distraction from their own experiences of illness, and that can be very powerful.” — Liz Rubel, Hospital Artist-In-Residence Program Manager, and ProgramsPartnerships Coordinator, The Creative Center @ University Settlement READ MORE CLOSE Data shapes decision-making and makes programs more efficient and effective Our vision for data at the Settlement is to continue building a culture of measurement and evaluation. In our Early Childhood Education programs, ensuring that children will be prepared for long-term academic, social, and emotional success is one of our primary goals. Recently, our assessments identified that children in our programs were not doing as well as we’d like on a certain dimension of social-emotional learning. We invited the creators of that assessment to come in and conduct a two-day training with our teachers to better support that area of development, and when we measured our children’s scores again, they improved.” — Angelica Bravo, Director of Data, Evaluation, and Learning Our Impact A 21st Century Settlement House A place where children, families, elders, students, parents, immigrants, artists, activists, athletes, caregivers, educators, leaders, communities, and New Yorkers grow. Established in 1886 as the first Settlement House in the United States, we bring the values of that movement into the 21st century by: Fighting poverty and systemic inequality with responsive programs and advocacy; Engaging all members of the community from newborns to elders; Joyfully nurturing the whole person by addressing basic needs including food, education, culture, learning, and community. 73,000 meals were delivered to homebound elders. 359 adults learned English and NYC civics through our Adult Literacy program —and 68 learned how to use a library card. 1,834 children and young people participated in our after-school programs. 1,100 young people received comprehensive academic and college access support through College Passport. 930 patients received arts instruction at their hospital beds through The Creative Center. 1,894 children and adults received mental healthcare. Stories from FY22 A place where… Children grow more independent, and where parents build powerful connections Read More + In 2022, our Early Head Start teams in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn partnered with more than 300 families. These relationships can include home visits for expecting parents and young infants, parent-child socialization groups that provide families with space to build relationships with one another, full-day infant-toddler classrooms, and family support specialists who help make connections to external resources. Every child is very important. Although it can seem like a family has no influence and power, if every family has the resources or knows where to find the resources they need, they can live well in their families, and society as a whole benefits.” — Hsiao-Han Zoe” Proano Celi, Assistant Director, Early Head Start Ying has two daughters in EHS: I found University Settlement during COVID. I had both my children in the middle of the pandemic, and I realized I was experiencing signs of postpartum blues. In lockdown, I was in a very closed environment, having to stay at home, and my emotions were quite unstable. I was even having problems communicating with my husband. When I first found EHS, I was immediately impressed by the online activities, such as the parents’ exchange meeting. Through the program, I had the opportunity to chat with new people every week or even every month, and gradually we got along like friends. The moms would share thoughts and experiences with one another, and suddenly my life was opening up – I didn’t only have my husband to talk to, children and family was not all I had. I had new faces to meet, and it was a good opportunity to relieve my anxious mood. Before my children started coming to University Settlement, they spent most of their time in contact with their parents and family members. Transitioning into this program has been good for my daughters – they’ve had to adjust to participating in classes, experiencing a relatively unfamiliar environment, learning how to accept and adapt and how to meet new people. They are learning how to follow rules, listen to teachers’ instructions, and how to get along with other children, while meeting friends and building social skills. I think it’s a good learning process for them. I can feel that my two daughters are more independent – they rely on us less at home. When they have problems when they are playing with toys, now they don’t come to us directly, but think about what to do by themselves first. I am not a professional teacher, and I know that my ability to teach my children is limited. Sending my children here is helping them grow. I have to work regularly, and when I leave my children with EHS, I don’t have to worry that bad things will happen, because the staff here are so experienced and professional. Everyone here is working really hard to create a loving, responsible, safe place for kids.Every child is very important. Although it can...