Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement (New York, N.Y.)

Social settlement founded in 1891 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan by "The King's Daughters," an organization of Episcopal church women, and Jacob A. Riis. Incorporated in 1898 as "The King's Daughters Settlement" the institution was rededicated as Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement in 1901. In its early years the settlement sponsored clubs, classes, health care and summer camping. In 1942 the settlement collaborated with the New York City Board of Education to provide social services from a public school facility in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Later that decade and during the 1950s the settlement developed programs for residents of public housing projects in Brooklyn, Harlem and Queens. Eventually all activities were consolidated at the New York City Housing Authority's Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens. During the 1990s programs included meals for senior citizens, youth counseling, tutoring and educational enrichment, athletics and summer camp.

From the description of Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement Records, 1891-1990. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122533094

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the population of Manhattan's Lower East Side soared as tens of thousands of eastern European Jewish and Italian immigrants moved into the area's crowded tenement buildings. These new immigrants found work in the garment industry, as pushcart vendors in the lively retail trade along Orchard and Grand Streets, and other trades. They established benevolent societies and fraternal organizations, joined local churches and synagogues, and participated in the thriving popular culture of the theaters and dance halls on 2nd Avenue and The Bowery. But flourishing alongside this working class culture were a host of urban problems. Poverty, hunger, disease, crime, decrepit housing and unsanitary streets were all pervasive on the Lower East Side. Such conditions dimmed the hopes of many immigrants. They also alarmed many wealthy and middle-class Americans who perceived in them threats to moral order, political stability and cultural progress. Early attempts to ameliorate conditions in a changing urban society included the creation of charity organizations, industrial training schools, and church missions.

In London, a similar increase in social problems led reformers in 1884 to establish the first settlement house, Toynbee Hall. The settlement model, originally distinguished by a commitment on the part of its college-educated volunteers to "settle" in working class communities in order to confront their problems first-hand and to contribute to the moral uplift of their neighbors, was quickly imported to the United States. In 1886 Stanton Coit, a devotee of Felix Adler's Ethical Culture movement and early observer of the experiment at Toynbee Hall, founded The Neighborhood Guild on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Over the next few decades scores of settlement houses were established in cities across the country, staffed largely by recent college graduates, many of them young women eager to take an active role in public life. American settlements sponsored such programs as kindergartens, day care, social clubs, health clinics, visiting nurses, summer camps, arts education and vocational training. They provided bases of operation for sociologists, journalists, and other researchers of urban conditions. Many settlements provided forums for public debate of political issues, and galvanized popular opinion in support of progressive social legislation. In addition, the settlement houses offered a setting where many religiously motivated people fulfilled callings to practice non-denominational social service.

During the late 1880s "The King's Daughters," an organization of Protestant Episcopal churchwomen, began missionary and benevolent work on New York's Lower East Side by distributing flowers to sick members of working class families. In 1890 The King's Daughters came into contact with prominent journalist and reformer Jacob A. Riis (1849-1914). Disturbed by the inadequacy of health care for immigrants, Riis inspired The King's Daughters to aid Board of Health doctors caring for the ill on the Lower East Side. Riis then continued to support The King's Daughters (later re-named the Tenement House Committee of the King's Daughters and Sons) as they broadened their efforts to improve social conditions by sponsoring a fresh air camp, kindergarten, sewing classes, mothers clubs and a penny provident bank. These activities were organized from rented rooms on Madison Street until 1897, when larger quarters were found at 48 Henry Street. A year later "King's Daughter's Settlement" was formally incorporated. Prominent supporters of the institution, which was re-dedicated in 1901 as "Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement," included Episcopal Bishop Henry Codman Potter, and Riis's personal friend Theodore Roosevelt. Riis himself continued his association with the settlement until his death in 1914. His widow, Mary Phillip Riis, and his son, Roger William Riis maintained the family connection for decades through their membership on the settlement's Board of Managers.

Under the leadership of such early Head Workers as Charlotte A. Waterbury, Eleanor J. Crawford, Alice C. Mayer, and Helen H. Jessup, settlement programs were expanded through the 1920s to include athletics, dramatics, lectures, citizenship classes, and the sponsorship of a neighborhood association. During the depression years of the 1930s the settlement's varied recreational, cultural and educational programs were continued with the assistance of staff paid by the federal Works Progress Administration. In 1942 the settlement began an innovative collaboration with the city Board of Education to provide social services to the growing African-American community in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Soon after, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) invited Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement to operate community centers in several low-income housing projects, including Marcy Houses, Brooklyn (1949); Queensbridge Houses, Queens (1950); Red Hook Houses, Brooklyn (1951); and Stephen Foster Houses, Harlem (1952). Programs at these sites included counseling, senior citizen groups, summer camping, arts and crafts, athletics, and day care. During this same period activities at Henry Street were curtailed, and eventually discontinued. The old settlement building was sold in 1952. Over the next several decades Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement concentrated all of its efforts at Queensbridge and Red Hook Houses, developing innovative programs in drug counseling, mental health and consumer protection. During the 1990s the settlement consolidated entirely at Queensbridge, where programs included meals for senior citizens, youth counseling, tutoring and educational enrichment, athletics, and summer camp.

From the guide to the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement Records, 1891-1990, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)