East River House Ribbon Cutting

The October 8^th ribbon cutting at East River House was a moving event, bringing together elected and government officials, funders, and many friends of The Bridge.   The 41-bed residence, licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) as an extended stay program, is providing quality housing and support to a target group of some of New York’s most vulnerable: persons with serious mental illness who have significant histories of homelessness, criminal justice involvement and, in many cases, long periods of psychiatric hospitalization.

The development of the residence, located on 126^th Street between 1^st and 2^nd Avenues in Manhattan, marked the first Bridge project to use low income housing tax credit financing in addition to OMH capital funding.    Tax credit financing brings private equity into the mix of funding, stretching government dollars to be able to develop more special needs housing.   The building includes thirteen 3-bedroom units (each with shared kitchen and living room and 1 ½ baths) and one 2-bedroom unit, community lounge and dining facilities, office space, laundry and an attractive back yard.  

 The East River House staff and its diverse clientele, coming from municipal hospitals, state psychiatric centers and the Brooklyn Mental Health Court (an alternative sentencing program) are creating a community to support residents in their community integration and recovery.   On-site residential and case management staffs assist residents in identifying community resources and services they need to achieve their recovery goals.   

  

The ribbon cutting ceremony featured the participation of  State Assembly Member Adam Clayton Powell IV and City Council Member, Melissa Mark Viverito.  OMH was represented by Michael Newman,  Director of Housing Services Unit.  Pastor Eric Turner of the St. Luke’s Baptist Church delivered a moving blessing.  A highlight of the program was the remarks by Hameth Kanaute, a resident.

East River House Ribbon Cutting Event

View more presentations from The Bridge.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: Reflection of a Summer Intern

The following post is a written by one of our summer interns, Isaiah Bartlett.

Isaiah (pictured in the middle) saying farewell to some of our clients and staff.

It is hard to believe that my summer has come to end an end when it feels like yesterday was my first day working at The Bridge. As many first days are, mine was one filled with nervousness, excitement, and uncertainty. My previous social work experience was at The Ali Forney Center where I provided case management services to homeless LGBT adolescents for my internship at New York University Silver School for Social Work. I was confident in my knowledge of homelessness and the barriers faced by this population, but I was unsure of how my experience with adolescents would prepare me for working with adults diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illnesses. Fortunately, I quickly learned that my past social work resume wasn’t what was important to the clients.

My experience working at The Bridge has been so overwhelming positive that I feel the best way to summarize my time spent here is with a story of something I refer to as a “Bridge moment.” It’s at least 95 degrees outside and Lindsay, another summer staff member, and I have just spent the past two hours touring The Bronx Zoo with clients. We are all exhausted and disappointed that we have to leave without getting to see all the animals. I’m walking with a client who has faithfully attended all of our summer trips, he’s telling me about his participation in a bird watching organization and how he’s always loved animals. He keeps his head down when he speaks and his hands remain firm on his hips; his mannerisms in contrast to the joy he’s expressing. He turns to me and tells him how meaningful the trip to the zoo has been and how important it has been for him to reconnect with nature. I stop him mid-sentence and point to giraffes in the distance; we were all convinced we would have to leave the zoo without seeing them. The client looks up at me, smiles, and returns to walking quietly with his head down. I wipe the sweat from my brow and realize that this is why I’m at The Bridge, that this is why we do summer trips; the clients are so much more than their mental illnesses, that they connect, that they smile, and they experience happiness, even if is expressed in ways that are at times difficult to recognize.

My summer was full of moments like this, Bridge moments, and because of this, I will always remember incredible staff and clients who made these memories possible.

Picnic in the Park

On Thursday, August 5, Bridge clients and staff were able to break out of our normal routine and go on a picnic in Riverside Park!

Picnic in the Park Photo Album

Feel free to scroll through the pictures from our picnic.

The day started around 11:00am with activities lead by our volunteers including softball, basketball, board games, soccer, football, card tournament and a walk in the park. There were over 100 clients and staff who participated throughout the day’s activities. Lunch couldn’t come soon enough after playing in the summer heat! Sydell Bryant, the Director of Food Services and our food services team made us a fantastic meal including fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, and macaroni salad. Everyone scattered across the park to find shade and enjoy their meal with friends, volunteers and coworkers.

After everyone ate and rested, the second half of the picnic was dedicated to a scavenger hunt created by our Executive Director, Dr. Peter Beitchman. There were six teams who had to complete 11 tasks ranging from collecting three different kinds of leaves found in the park and getting a copy of The Metro Newspaper to reciting The Pledge of Allegiance. The winners shocked us all by completing the tasks in 15 minutes! After the rest of the teams returned and recited The Pledge of Allegiance to Dr. Beitchman, we ate the much anticipated dessert – strawberry shortcake! While we enjoyed our delicious dessert, Dr. Beitchman awarded the winners of the scavenger hunt and card tournament with their prizes and thanked our volunteers.

The picnic was a success as it gave everyone at The Bridge a chance to be active, interact in a different environment and create new friendships. Sometimes a little fresh air is what the mind and body needs!

Partners in Caring Awards Dinner Round Up

The Bridge Partners in Caring Awards Dinner

Our Partners in Caring Awards Dinner took place at the Tribeca Rooftop on June 10th. It was a great success with more than 200 guests in attendance to help recognize our honorees and celebrate our mission of providing mental health and housing solutions to New Yorkers in need.

The evening began with a moving speech from one of our clients, Sandra, who spoke about how The Bridge has played a role in her life and recited a beautiful poem she wrote about her recovery.

Our Board President, Cynthia Wainwright and Executive Director, Dr. Peter Beitchman unveiled our new logo and discuss some of the highlights of our new brand.

The highlight of the evening was the awards ceremony in which our honorees, Sara E. Morgan, State Senator Eric T. Scheiderman and Wids DeLaCour and Richard Ferrara were presented with their Partner in Caring Awards. Over the years, these key partnerships have helped improve the quality of life for hundreds of Bridge clients and it was inspiring to hear about what the partnerships meant to each of the honorees. Click here to learn more about our relationships with each of the honorees.

Throughout the evening, guests could meet with a tarot card reader, have an amazing fancy hat made, bid on auction items and client artwork that was on display.

We would like to thank our donors once again who so generously supported our awards dinner and whose assistance will help us provide mental health and housing solutions to the most vulnerable in our community.


Photographs by Roger LeMoine of ACE Photography

2010 Partners in Caring Honorees

On Thursday, June 10th The Bridge's Partners in Caring Awards Dinner will take place at the Tribeca Rooftop. The event recognizes key partnerships that have helped to immeasurably improve the quality of life for Bridge clients For more information please contact Eric Talbert, etalbert [a] thebridgeny.org or (212) 663-3000 ext. 379. To view the invitation click here.

Meet our 2010 Honorees:

DeLaCour & Ferrara Architects
Wids DeLaCour & Richard Ferrara

This award recognizes the important collaboration between DeLaCour &Ferrara Architects and The Bridge resulting in the creation of 14 residential buildings in which 283 clients reside, and creation of the agency’s main headquarters. The firm has worked with many community groups and nonprofit organizations creatively designing spaces that meet each group’s distinct needs. We applaud their many professional achievements and are pleased to present our Corporate Partnership in Caring Award to Dick and Wids.

Sara E. Morgan

Sara has been a member of The Bridge Board of Directors for 25 years
serving as a Vice President and Secretary. Over these many years, Sara’s presence at Bridge closings with various governmental agencies has been a constant; she has signed millions of corporate documents. In addition, she has been involved in many West Side organizations helping to improve the quality of life for residents volunteering with the Park West Village Tenants Association, NYPD’s 24th Precinct Citizens Council, Community Free Democrats, and many nonprofit organizations.We celebrate Sara’s many accomplishments with our Individual Partner in Caring Award because she truly cares about her community and its people.

Hon. Eric T. Schneiderman

State Senator Eric Schneiderman has been a friend to The Bridge for almost as long as he has served in the State Senate starting in 1998 representing the 31st District (covering portions of Manhattan and the Bronx). As an Upper West Side resident, Eric understands the diverse needs of his community. As a lawyer in private practice, he worked with advocacy and public interest organizations helping to make the Upper West Side a safer community. As an elected official, Eric serves as Chair of the Senate Codes Committee and Deputy Majority Leader for Policy and most recently shepherded through sweeping reforms to the Rockefeller Drug laws, championing the needs of all New Yorkers. We take great pride in presenting our Government Partner in Caring Award to State Senator Eric Schneiderman.

A New Place to Call Home: East River House

As of December 30th, 2009 we have opened our largest residence to date – our 41-bed East River House located in East Harlem. We have been planning this project for several years and with the support of New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH), we purchased the property in March of 2006 and began construction in January 2008. The design is by DeLaCour and Ferrara Architects, and the general contractor is Rende Contracting Corporation. We would also like to thank the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) for providing a small loan toward the acquisition.

East River House will be home to 41 adult men and women with serious mental illness who are referred from Bellevue Hospital’s inpatient psychiatric unit, Kings County Hospital inpatient psychiatric unit, Manhattan Psychiatric and Rockland Psychiatric Centers, and the Brooklyn Mental Health Court. Like our other residences and scatter-site apartments, East River House can help halt the cycle between hospital, shelter and jail for these individuals and provide them with shelter and comprehensive services that will help them move on to more independent housing and lead more productive lives.

These on-site services include:

• Peer counselor assistance
• Case management
• Entitlements counseling
• Psychiatric rehabilitation including (symptom management, socialization, community integration, discharge planning from day one)
• Substance abuse treatment
• 24/7 front desk coverage
• Computer training
• Benefits assistance
• An evening meal prepared by a cook
  

Residents will have access to building amenities such as a laundry room, computers, a community room with a kitchen and a large backyard for outdoor activities. In addition to fulfilling the needs of our consumers, our housing program has made an initiative to meet the needs of our environment by becoming more eco-friendly. East River House includes green elements such as ENERGY STAR windows and appliances, central a/c and heating.

Besides being our largest residence to date, East River House is also noted for being one of the first Bridge residences to use low-income housing tax credits (the other housing project is The Bridge Revitalization [HUD 202]). Other sources of financing are from Dormitory Authority of the State of NY (DASNY) bonds, and OMH rent subsidies and service dollars. Tenants also contribute 30% of their annual income as rent.

Take a look inside East River House:

Fall has "fallen" on The Bridge Urban Farms

Fall is among us with shorter days and cooler temperatures which means our urban farms are in their final stages of the season. A worker from our urban farm crew discusses this season's successes in the latest blog post of My Urban Farm.