NYC Gazette

New York, NY – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) requested $1,500,000 in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget forthe Vision Urbana Lower East Side Center for the Jacob Riis Houses. This community center will provide seniors with a safe gathering place, a daily senior meal program, recreational and educational activities, case assistance with access to entitlements and benefits, and culturally relevant social space for diverse cultures. The Vision Urbana Lower East Side Center will be located in the Jacob Riis Houses and primarily serve NYCHA residents.

“All seniors in our community deserve to be treated with dignity and have access to educational and recreational enrichment.” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “Vision Urbana’s goals for this space would ensure that older New Yorkers can continue to engage in the community and live fulfilling lives. This Riis Houses community have been without a senior center for decades and this opening would be crucial to the well-being of older residents. I am proud to support their mission and join in their efforts to get our seniors the support and services they need.” 

Eric Diaz, Executive Director of Vision Urbana said, "We believe this project will address the needs of the immediate and surrounding community as it relates to providing food security, additional senior services and interventions, and emergency responsiveness. Currently there is just one senior center located within NYCHA Alphabet City and it is on Houston Street & Avenue D, leaving a rapidly aging NYCHA community north of 2nd Street up to 13th Street and Avenue D without a senior center to attend and receive critical supports. Our organization has begun the revitalization of three NYCHA community spaces and will take on the task of revitalizing one more with the support of champions like Congressmember Dan Goldman and others who believe in additional supports for our NYCHA communities here on the Lower East Side.

Daphne Williams, Tenant President of Riis Houses said, “I’m thankful to Congressman Dan Goldman forhearing our calls to get a dedicated center for seniors in our community. We have worked for years in partnership with Vision Urbana and we are excited about the possible future of this space.”

Located within a community space at the NYCHA Jacob Riis Houses Development, this Community Center will serve as a hub for many different services, such as an emergency food security and pantry site for public housing residents in the Lower East Side and a senior center providing services, activities, and training for older adults within Jacob Riis Houses.

The Vision Urbana Food Security program, which has been the largest pantry and fresh produce distribution and largest home delivered pantry program on the Lower East Side for more than three years, will establish a pantry site at the  Center to serve over 2,500 households weekly.

The funding would be used to renovate the space for daily use, including floor and ceiling repairs, wall and doorway replacements, renovating bathrooms to be more accessible, adding a commercial kitchen, and installing an HVAC system.

Original source can be found here.