Covenant House New York

Description

Covenant House New York began more than 40 years ago when six young runaways were given shelter from a snowstorm, in the lower east side of Manhattan. Today there are 21 Covenant House locations across the United States, Canada and Latin Americas – and together we serve more than 56,000 homeless young people each year. In New York alone they serve close to 4,000 young people each year. Their goal is simple, yet challenging: help each young person we meet move to safe, stable, and loving places in their lives.

History

In the late 1960s, a Franciscan priest, the Rev. Bruce Ritter, made a life-changing decision to move into a dilapidated tenement building in New York City’s East Village and, along with a handful of friends, former students, and neighbors, begin to serve the city’s poor.

A few years later, in 1972, Covenant House was officially incorporated, with its first intake center established at 504 LaGuardia Place in New York City.

Now an established nonprofit, Covenant House began fundraising, using the money to shelter homeless kids in lower Manhattan and on Staten Island. In 1976, Father Ritter announced plans to create a multiservice center near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Covenant House then acquired a group of buildings on West 44th Street and moved its administrative offices to the new location.

Throughout the late 1970s, Covenant House continued to expand its social service programs in New York City and by 1980 was ready to branch out to other places. For the next two decades, Covenant House grew at an exhilarating pace under the leadership of Sister Mary Rose McGready (1990-2003) and Sister Tricia Cruise (2003-2008), opening Crisis Centers in 20 more cities in the United States, Central America, and Canada.

Currently under the leadership of Kevin Ryan, Covenant House International serves more than 56,000 homeless kids each year in six countries across North and Central America, giving them the love and support they need to find their way off of the streets.

In New York, they provide shelter and comprehensive services to close to 400 young people each day, and 4,000 each year. Creighton Drury assumed the Executive Director position in July 2013.