Tompkins Houses

Brooklyn

NeighborhoodStat

For over a year, a team of residents from Tompkins Houses has been meeting with neighbors, city agencies, and community-based organizations to prioritize the community safety issues most important to their development. These teams are at the heart of NeighborhoodStat (or “NStat”). The NStat team meets regularly and has been trained in surveying their community and generating solutions with concrete implementation plans.Through this process, the NStat team engaged Tompkins young adults (ages 16-24) in a 6-month Music Mentorship Program. With Grand Street Settlement and Building Beats, youth were paired with life coaches and participated in a series of workshops to develop their entrepreneurial and leadership skills through music.

The Tompkins Nstat Team led a participatory budgeting process through Local NeighborhoodStat in which residents were invited to submit their own ideas to strengthen safety and build community through built environment projects and/or social programming. The Tompkins Nstat Team collected 522 responses from neighbors. The most popular project and top priority for $30,000 was Educating Our Youth, a youth-based program that focuses on self-awareness and mental health through a series of workshops.

MAP Agency Programs

Since its launch in 2014, MAP agency partners have focused their programming to meet a variety of needs, ranging from support of seniors and kinship caregivers, mentorship of young adults, family-friendly programming of playgrounds, safe spaces for teens, assistance with public benefits, youth employment, and more.

Participate

The Tompkins Nstat Team is currently building a digital network to stay connected to one another during this time and to develop platforms to reimagine digital public space, co-create safety responses, support community building, and convene city agencies to leverage resources and collaboratively solve local problems.

To learn about selected projects, or to participate in Tompkins Houses ongoing campaign, click here.

Youth Development

Lack of adequate space for youth leads to overcrowding and displacement, limiting the number of youth being served at the community center. Youth have also expressed interest in different kinds of programming and opportunities.

Connection

In the past, outdoor events at Tompkins Houses were well-attended and residents connected around basketball tournaments that no longer happen due to the poor condition of the courts. Overall, there is a need for more community engagement and relationship building through programming, stewardship, and activation.

Justice

There is a need for more information sharing and relationship building between NYPD and residents. While NYPD Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs) are actively engaged with the team, there is still room for improvement regarding mutual information exchange between the broader Police Department and the Tompkins community.

MAP Programs

Please note: In response to the COVID-19 emergency, some programs have been modified. For more information about modified program activities and availability, please click here

  • Human Resources Administration (HRA) Outreach Specialist is based at Tompkins Houses on Mondays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm. They can help with benefits navigation, SNAP, Cash, and Emergency Assistance for rent arrears. HRA also holds pop-up events in Tompkins to make sure as many people have access to public benefits support as possible.
  • Department for the Aging (DFTA) Community Advocate is based at Tompkins on Fridays! The DFTA Community Advocate offers Parenting a Second Time Around groups, support groups and individual counseling for seniors and kinship caregivers. The DFTA Community Advocate also hosts intergenerational activities and more.
  • Conflict Mediation through the New York City Peace Institute offers free conflict mediation for pairs or groups and they also have different training opportunities for those interested in learning mediation skills.
  • Next STEPS Mentoring for Youth through CASES offers group mentorship for young people between the ages of 16-24 who may have experienced conflict and trauma. During group sessions, young people learn skills and build relationships with each other over hot meals.
  • Grand St. Settlement Cornerstone Community Center offers free and engaging programming to Tompkins youth and teens. The community center is located at 736 Park Ave, Brooklyn.
  • Green Job Training through Green City Force (GCF), an Americorps service-year program, which trains young NYCHA residents (18-24 years of age) in clean energy and urban agriculture and pays a monthly stipend and metrocard to Corps Members for their service.
  • Shape Up NYC through the Department of Parks and Recreation offers free, drop-in fitness classes in or near MAP developments. Shape Up classes don’t require any advanced registration or fee and are conveniently located for MAP residents to engage with each other and enjoy low-barrier fitness activities.

Contacts