Since last December, when the Flatiron Partnership launched its Homeless Outreach program in conjunction with Urban Pathways, two young women have become familiar figures to the area's homeless. They are Jacqueline Cohen and Samantha Simms, both highly trained as social workers, both dedicated to helping the homeless, and each with totally different backgrounds.

Cohen, 34 and single, was born in Brooklyn and has lived there all her life. Simms, 28, married and the mother of two little girls, was born and raised in Peoria, Ill., but now also lives in Brooklyn.

Cohen has two bachelor's degrees from Hunter College, one in dance, one in theater and sociology. She's currently studying for a master's at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Simms got her bachelor's in social work at Illinois State University and after coming to New York in 2003, earned a master's in social work from Columbia University.

Ask them about working with the homeless and their enthusiasm shines through.

"I wanted to be on the front lines," said Cohen, who joined Urban Pathways in 2006 and requested the Outreach program. "It's challenging because you're working with chronically homeless people who might not yet be ready for change. It's about building relationships and building trust.

"I love the feeling of putting someone who's been on the street into a warm place. But it's also rewarding when people who haven't agreed to talk to you before begin to open up and tell you about themselves. It's a breakthrough - and sometimes it happens without their even being asked."

For Simms, who was hired by Urban Pathways last December, the interaction is vital.

"You know, everyone has a story and I truly believe that all of us are just one paycheck from being on the street," she said. "I don't pass judgment on them. Ideally, I'd love to get every homeless person into a better place, but I know I can't. Realistically, what I'd like is to introduce our services to them, to make them aware of what the options are. Sleeping on the street doesn't have to be the only option."

One of the more innovative approaches to teaching children creativity and problem solving takes place up a narrow staircase on 23rd Street, just west of Park Avenue South.

Vision Education & Media (VEMNY), now in its 10th year, features the latest in technology and multimedia in its workshops, conducted on days when school is out. Kids from six to 13 can go to 38 East 23rd Street and participate in two principal activities: RoboFun Workshops, which provide hands-on experience in robot-making with LEGO blocks, and video-game design and video animation. VEMNY also runs birthday parties on and off premises, at which kids can design and build their own robots.

In addition, the company has after-school programs in more than 60 schools in New York and New Jersey for students from six to 18, offering programs such as web design, 3D modeling, and digital video, audio and photography.

The company, founded by Laura Allen, has a non-profit arm called Vision Ed Inc., which runs grant-based technology programs in schools throughout New York and also hosts the Stonington Retreat, a four-day summer technology workshop for educators.

For additional information, visit www.vemny.org

Ask Antonia Tirado, the only woman on the Flatiron Partnership's Clean Team, what about her job provides the most satisfaction and she answers without a moment's hesitation: "Making a difference."

"This is New York," she says. "As someone who lives here, I feel it should be clean at all times. It feels really good when you can look back at a clean street and say, 'I did that.'"

Antonia, a youthful-looking 57 with a long dark-brown ponytail, was born in San German, Puerto Rico's second-oldest city. She came to the U.S. when she was 12 and has been a New Yorker ever since. She is a single mom who raised two children and now has one grandchild.

Antonia is a skilled carpenter and can also do electrical repairs, painting and plastering. She's been a housekeeper, a nurses' assistant and a clerk at several hospitals. Prior to joining the Flatiron Clean Team, Antonia did similar work for the Madison Avenue BID.

"People in this BID are very nice," she said. "They come up and give me compliments and say how different it is from before. They always say something nice."

Does she ever feel frustrated when just-cleaned areas become littered? Sure, she says, but she's philosophical about it.

"That's life," she shrugs, and then smiles. "Besides, that's what the job's all about."

Some 3,000 volunteers - including a group from the Flatiron Partnership - fanned throughout the city in the early morning hours of Jan. 29 to help the Department of Homeless Services conduct its sixth annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) survey.

Three members of the Flatiron Partnership - team leader Jacqueline Cohen of the BID's Homeless Outreach program, operations director Scott Kimmins and assistant Scott Lamkin - participated in the survey, canvassing the area from Ninth to Eleventh Avenues in the West 20s. The HOPE survey, which began at midnight and encompassed streets, subways and parks, called for volunteers to keep track of the number of homeless they encountered and offer transportation to a shelter to anyone seeking assistance.

"It seemed much colder when we did this last year," recalled Kimmins.

He was right. The 2008 homeless count took place under clear skies, with temperatures in the low to mid-30s and winds of about 3 miles an hour. A year ago, the count was conducted with temperatures in the low 20s.

The Community Service Society's RSVP program is seeking volunteers who are 55 or over to participate in any of a wide range of programs.

RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) matches the skills and interests of older Americans with opportunities to serve their communities. Since its inception in 1966, it has grown into the largest senior volunteer program in the U.S. It is also global, with RSVP programs taking place in 41 nations. Its parent organization, Community Service Society, a pioneering social welfare agency launched in 1848, has its New York headquarters in the Flatiron district, at 105 East 22nd Street.

RSVP has programs throughout the five boroughs and volunteers may choose how and where they want to serve, from a few hours a week to more than 40. Some of the services are: mentoring troubled children; teaching adults to read; conducting museum tours; counseling new business owners; visiting the homebound elderly; and providing administrative assistance at hospitals and other nonprofit agencies.

For more information, contact Meredith Gemeiner at (212) 614-5394 or via e-mail at mgemeiner@cssny.org.

If you own a small business and need information about government regulations on issues ranging from pension benefits to safety standards, you might want to sign up for a workshop at Baruch College that will be conducted by the Department of Labor. The date is Thursday, Feb. 21, and advance registration is required. The workshop, called "Employer Compliance Assistance Forum," is scheduled for 9:30AM to 12:30PM at Baruch's Small Business Development Center, 55 Lexington Avenue, Suite 2-140. To register, call 646-312-4790 or fax 646-312-4781.

Topics to be covered include workplace health and safety concerns, minimum wages, overtime, fair labor standards, and health and pension benefits. For additional information, contact James Daley, associate director of Baruch's Small Business Development Center (phone: 646-312-4784; e-mail: james_daley@baruch.cuny.edu).

On the morning of Nov. 23, 1889, a one-paragraph item in The New York Times reported that a plot of land had been acquired "on Fourth-avenue, near Twenty-second-street" by "the committee to promote the erection of a church missions house." The cost of the project was estimated at $200,000 and the committee sought "men and women of means" to provide the money.

The Church Missions House, a magnificent steel-frame Romanesque structure inspired by the medieval guildhalls of Amsterdam and Haarlem, was completed in 1894. It stands at 281 Park Avenue South (as Fourth Avenue came to be known) in an area that became a hub for charitable organizations. Originally the command center of the Protestant Episcopal Church's mission work, it now is the headquarters of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), an organization founded in 1922 that provides social services to more than two million people each year through its network of Protestant and non-sectarian agencies.

The building's cornerstone was laid in October 1892 and by the following summer, the original $200,000 estimate had grown to $500,000. Cornelius Vanderbilt and J. Pierpont Morgan - clearly, two men "of means" - were major contributors. The Church Missions House was designed by a pair of Englishmen: Robert W. Gibson, who came to this country in 1881 and became a two-time president of the New York Architectural League, and Edward J. N. Stent, whose specialty was church interiors.

A frieze over the main entrance depicts St. Augustine on the left, preaching to the barbarians in England, while on the right Bishop Samuel Seabury - the first American Episcopal bishop - sermonizes to the barbarians in America. In 1963, the building was acquired by FPWA and restored, revealing the pink rock granite and Indiana limestone of its exterior. It was designated a New York City landmark in 1979. In 1991, a $5.5 million project was launched to renovate the copper and terra-cotta roof, to bare the marble mosaic floors that had been hidden beneath vinyl tiles, and to restore leaded stained-glass windows, wooden wainscoting and wooden doors. The project also introduced a new meeting hall, the Laura Parsons Pratt Conference Center on the ground floor. "Once again, the Morgan name appears among the benefactors," noted the Times. The FPWA's letter of credit was provided by J.P. Morgan.

The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership sponsors free walking tours every Sunday.

Join our experienced guides on a 90-minute journey through this vibrant neighborhood, viewing some of the City's most notable landmarks, including the New York Life Insurance building, the MetLife Tower, the Appellate Courthouse and the famous Flatiron Building.

Time:
Every Sunday at 11:00AM.

Meeting Place:
The southwest corner of Madison Square Park, at 23rd Street and Broadway, in front of the statue of William Seward.

Recent News Coverage

• Group Confronts Abusers of Area Methadone Clinics
• Brrrsk Winter Walks Through Neighborhood
• BID Launches Homeless Outreach Program
• Making Downtown Friendlier
• Buyers Go Mad.
• Methadone Clients Will Be Told to Dose and Dash
• Methadone Clinics to Keep Closer Watch on Patients
• Drug Clinics to Dismiss Clients Who Get Busted
• Flatiron BID Launches Tree Planting Program
• BID Holds First Annual Meeting
• BID Launches Neighborhood Safety Program
• Annual Meeting Scheduled
• BID Giving Free Walking Tours Through Flatiron District
• BID to Hold Concert to Benefit Homeless
• Local Businesses Head to BID Forums
• BID Unveils New Litter Receptacles
• Clean Team Takes on Snow Removal
• BID Welcomes Citibank to Neighborhood
• BID Makes a Clean Sweep
• Officer Who Cleaned Up Kenmore Named BID's Operations Director
• Long Live the BID
• Jennifer Brown Appointed Executive Director of Flatiron BID
• Manhattan's First New BID in Over Four Years Launched
• New Improvement District Around Madison Square Park
• BID Aims to Clean Up Community
• Flatiron BID Uses Hi-Tech to Track Problem Areas
• Flatiron BID Plans Neighborhood Makeover
• New BID Is Milestone in Flatiron District Revitalization

Press Releases

• Homeless Outreach Program Launched
• BID Conducts First Annual Meeting
• Flatiron BID Launches Public Safety Program
• Discover Flatiron: Free Walking Tours
• Hero Officer Returns to His Beat
• BID Launches Sanitation Program
• Jennifer Brown Appointed Executive Director
• Flatiron Partnership BID Launched

Newsletters

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Announcements

• Restaurant Week Winter 2008
• Tree Lighting 2007
• Flatiron Holiday 2007
• Flatiron Eats - Fall 2007
• Flatiron Eats - Summer 2007