Wagner Houses

Manhattan

NeighborhoodStat

For over a year, a team of residents from Wagner 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 Wagner 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 is transforming an underutilized site on campus into a vibrant outdoor community space that incorporates storage space, a ground mural, an inflatable tent, and a temporary stage and lighting. The team is also refurbishing the basketball court across from 50 Paladino Avenue.

The Wagner Nstat Team hosted 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 Wagner Houses NStat team collected 844 responses from your neighbors. The most popular project and top priority for $30,000 was Building Cases for Youth, a two-month program to increase youth pathways to employment and job-readiness aims to expose 100 youth to career fields, encourage creativity and promote local resources.

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 Wagner 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 Wagner Houses ongoing campaign, click here.

 

Youth Development

Young people in Wagner Houses and the surrounding East Harlem neighborhood are deeply impacted by community conflict and violence. There is a need for youth development partners such as SCAN, Union Settlement, Stand Against Violence East Harlem (SAVE), and Exodus Transitional Community to work with City agencies on a collaborative strategy for the development’s youth, inclusive of pathways to vocational and educational training and placement, as well as credible, trauma-informed care.

Stewardship & Maintenance

There is a need for a comprehensive strategy between community and City agencies to address quality of life concerns, including rodents and excessive/improper garbage disposal, broken doors, and poorly maintained public spaces, all of which negatively affect perceptions of safety and contribute to feelings of neglect and disrespect.

Health & Well-being

East Harlem experiences the highest rates of drug and alcohol related hospitalizations in the city and many available supports are underutilized by those who could benefit. There is a need for holistic efforts to decrease the stigma around seeking mental health and drug abuse treatment, as well as to develop a non-enforcement policy with NYPD and harm-reduction partners to support residents and their families during mental health and substance use crisis.

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 Wagner Houses on Mondays and Tuesdays and nearby at the Harlem Justice Center on Thursdays from 9am to 12pm! HRA also holds pop-up events in Wagner to make sure as many people have access to public benefits support as possible.
  • Department for the Aging (DFTA) Community Advocate 
 is based at Wagner Houses on Tuesdays! The DFTA Community Advocate offers Parenting a Second Time Around groups, support groups and individual counseling for seniors and kinship caregivers, intergenerational activities, and more.
  • Conflict Mediation through the New York City Peace Institute offers free conflict mediation for pairs or groups. They also have different training opportunities if you are interested in learning mediation skills.
  • Next STEPS Mentoring for Youth through Exodus Transitional Community
 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.
  • SCAN Cornerstone Community Center offers free and engaging programming to Wagner youth and teens. The community center is located at 435 East 120th Street!
  • Green Jobs Training through Green City Force (GCF), an Americorps service-year program, 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