Bowery Mission Opens Women’s Shelter in Harlem

The Bowery Mission has been serving the homeless of downtown New York for 133 years. Quite a feat, especially in the face of rampant change in recent years. News broke amidst last week’s Thanksgiving charity rush that the organization just completed renovations on its transitional home for recently-homeless women.

Located in Harlem, the Bowery Mission Women’s Center is the first of its kind here in the city – a faith-based residential recovery program offering security and a roof to help the female homeless find a footing. According to the Christian Post, the facility has eight new apartments for “graduates” seeking a fresh start.

Last Tuesday was the official unveiling, with Representative Charlie Rangel and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly in attendance. In a statement to the press, Commissioner Kelly offered the following:

I have been impressed by The Bowery Mission’s work with women ever since my wife Veronica helped renovate the first Women’s Center in 2005. Over the past eight years, they have transformed many lives – not just the women who need help, but also the women who support the home.

The Bowery already provides homeless men and women with temporary dormitories, fresh meals, new clothes, a recovery program and career development services. The newly opened transitional home gives women the “final key component of recovery – stable housing – as they re-enter the workforce.