The Bowery Mission

The Bowery Mission has served homeless and hungry New Yorkers since 1879, when its neighborhood came to define the term “skid row.” Our children’s programs, called Mont Lawn City Camp & Mont Lawn Summer Camp, serve youth from impoverished neighborhoods and began in 1894 by giving the children of recent immigrants the chance to escape the tenements in the summer.

Today, The Bowery Mission is a results-oriented organization that is recognized as one of New York City's most effective.

Every night in New York City, nearly 6,400 people sleep on the street, in the subway system, or in other public places -- and over 100,000 men, women, and children spend the night within the city’s shelter system. For individuals experiencing homelessness, the ongoing burden of sleeplessness, hunger, and social isolation can contribute to psychological and physical decline, as well as distrust of others. The South Bronx and East Harlem, where our children's programs are located, are two New York City neighborhoods suffering from concentrated poverty. Burdened with high crime rates, poor health outcomes, and poor housing conditions, these areas pose high risks for child welfare. Growing up in poverty may disturb a child’s brain development and undermine his or her social and emotional growth.

The Bowery Mission aims to address these needs through four strategies: Compassionate Care, Residential & Community Programs, Transitional Housing & Alumni Programs, and Children's Programs.

The Bowery Mission’s Compassionate Care program serves those experiencing homelessness by providing basic needs and emergency care services in welcoming, trauma-informed environments. Meals, shelter, clothing, and more are provided seven days a week, 365 days a year, to all who walk through our doors – no questions asked. At The Bowery Mission, Compassionate Care is viewed as an opportunity to build trusting relationships and invite guests to “choose help” through longer-term services and supports. Guests who are ready to move beyond Compassionate Care have the opportunity to begin individualized care planning in partnership with onsite case managers. In 2023, we provided a total of 320,000 life-sustaining warm meals AND pantry items provided across the entire organization; 66,000 nights of shelter, 46,400 articles of clothing, 45,000 showers at our front door campuses, and thousands of medical, dental, and optometry exams to NYC community members in need.

Residential and Community Programs at The Bowery Mission are designed to help our clients make progress through access to comprehensive services for physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual healing. Depending on their needs, our clients can choose from our structured residential programs, our flexible residential programs, or our non-residential community programs. Each client who is ready to make progress works with a Social Worker to create an Individual Action Plan with specific, measurable goals for overcoming homelessness. An Individual Action Plan for our clients could include some or all of the following tools: vocational training, housing connections, life skills classes, addiction recovery, clinical counseling, legal aid, and/or medical care. In 2017, we served 354 adults through our residential programs in the Lower East Side, Newark, East Harlem, Harlem, and the Upper East Side. We also served 800 adults at our Community Hope Resource Center, our East Harlem center providing comprehensive social services to the community.

Transitional housing programs help graduates of our residential programs save on housing costs while working toward financial stability. We currently offer eight transitional housing beds for women and 10 transitional housing beds for men. Graduates also enjoy ongoing support from our alumni program, which coordinates services helping graduates sustain and grow their progress. These services may include: vocational assistance, housing connections, recovery groups, social events and reunions, life skills classes, volunteer opportunities, counseling and case management, and/or legal help. Twice yearly, our alumni participate in a survey to determine progress after they leave our programs. Our latest survey of 178 active alumni showed 78% were still working, 82% had sustainable housing, 83% had enough income to meet basic needs, and 87% had maintained sobriety.

The Bowery Mission’s children’s programs, Mont Lawn Camp and Mont Lawn City Camp, empower children to thrive and succeed through opportunities for leadership, skill building, and personal growth. With front doors in East Harlem and the South Bronx, Mont Lawn City Camp was started as a direct response to community needs for more enrichment activities and one-on-one mentoring. Activities and classes run between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. each day, and caring adult mentors are available to provide year-round guidance and support. In summer, our year-round campers join hundreds more for a week at Mont Lawn Camp, our overnight camp in the beautiful Pocono Region of Pennsylvania. At camp, children and youth experience a week of outdoor adventure, refreshment, and growth – an unforgettable summer experience. In 2023, we served 203 children who participated in any form of City Camp (afterschool)programming .

We encourage both individuals and corporate groups to volunteer with the Bowery Mission! We offer multiple shifts per day, whether it is meal service, meal preparation or clothing room assortment, volunteering is a great way to make a positive difference in the lives of New Yorkers most in need. We have the following shifts available to volunteers:

227 Bowery Campus (flagship) #
Breakfast - 7:15 am - 9:30 am 12
AM Clothing Room - 10 am - 12 pm 4
Lunch Prep - 10 am - 12 pm 10
Lunch - 12:00 pm - 2:30 pm 10
PM Clothing Room - 12 pm - 2 pm 4
Meal Prep - 2:15 pm - 4 pm 6
Dinner - 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm 10

Tribeca Campus (90 Lafayette St.) #
Breakfast - 6:45 am - 8:15 am 6
Meal Prep - 11 am - 1 pm 6
Lunch - 12:30 pm - 2 pm 2
Dinner -5 pm - 7:30 pm 8