Thousands of New Yorkers come through the doors of this Jewish community center in the East Village of Manhattan for its gym, classes and plays, but many don\u2019t stick around.<\/p>\n
So the center embarked on a big effort to get them to do just that.<\/p>\n
The Sol Goldman YM-YWHA, which is known as the 14th Street Y, has spent tens of thousands of dollars to make itself into a social gathering place in order to build a closer community in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, which curtailed activities and isolated so many.<\/p>\n
In 2024, the 14th Street Y transformed its underused lobby into an inviting cafe and art gallery with $1 cups of coffee, comfortable seats and lush plants. Though it already offered paid classes in mahjong and painting, it recruited local community members to lead clubs that would be free and open to everyone.<\/p>\n
Since then, the \u201cDowntown Together\u201d clubs have hosted more than 420 people to connect over shared interests and passions, like cooking, knitting and movies. Some club members who have attended had not been to the community center for years, if ever.<\/p>\n
Maribel Gomez, 66, a retired social worker who has occasionally used the gym, has now become a regular at the salsa club. \u201cIf I wasn\u2019t here, I\u2019d be home watching Netflix the whole day so it gets me out of the house \u2014 it gets me to meet people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But this exercise in community building has also been a learning experience for the 14th Street Y. Several clubs, like the Mixtape Listening Party, never attracted much interest. A Spanish club faded away after no one stepped up to keep it going. Some clubs had to cancel meetings because of bad weather during the winter.<\/p>\n
Other clubs brought people into the same room, but they have not fostered many close friendships outside of those meetings, at least not yet.<\/p>\n
More than Sharing Space<\/p>\n
On a Sunday afternoon in April, Ms. Gomez joined 30 other people who stepped and turned as salsa music filled a dance studio at the community center.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got it,\u201d Leonardo Sardella, the dance instructor, called out. When the song ended, he told them to relax and socialize at the salsa club.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes in a class, people worry they need to count or learn the steps,\u201d he said during the break. \u201cHere it\u2019s not like that. We do whatever we can do \u2014 it\u2019s really to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Gomez, who has bad knees, could not keep up and later sat down against a wall. She was soon joined by other dancers. Ms. Gomez, a Cuban immigrant, spoke Spanish to a woman, Florina Chuy, who she had met the month before. Ms. Chuy is also from Cuba and they were still talking when the music stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe closed down the joint,\u201d Ms. Gomez said as they walked out together.<\/p>\n
The 14th Street Y is part of the Educational Alliance, a nonprofit that sees community-building \u201cin the DNA of the organization,\u201d said Rich Baum, its chief executive officer.<\/p>\n
The alliance was founded in 1889 to create a settlement house on the Lower East Side to provide social services to impoverished Jewish immigrants. In the mid-1990s, it took over the 14th Street Y, which traced its roots to another settlement house from 1905.<\/p>\n
The alliance spent about $50,000 to remodel the 14th Street Y\u2019s lobby into a \u201cthird space\u201d where people could gather outside of their home, work or school. \u201cThey\u2019re just coming in and out when they could stop, sit down for a minute, have a cup of coffee or hang out before they go for a swim,\u201d Mr. Baum said.<\/p>\n
But just sharing space was not enough, Mr. Baum said, pointing out that people can sit together on a bench, or shop in a grocery aisle, without ever saying a word. \u201cIf you look at New York City, it is a place where people, a lot of people, live side by side,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they don\u2019t really live together.\u201d<\/p>\n
So the next step was to give people something to connect over. Alexis Offen, the 14th Street Y\u2019s executive director, and Julie Gayer Kris, its senior director of adult and wellness programs, emailed a list of ideas for clubs to thousands of local residents, asking them to check off the ones they were interested in, or to suggest their own. One woman lobbied for a bridge club and agreed to lead it.<\/p>\n
They whittled down the ideas and introduced a half-dozen clubs, including bridge, at an open house in October 2024.<\/p>\n
\u2018A Continuum of Connection\u2019<\/p>\n
The 14th Street Y\u2019s clubs have become part of the city\u2019s \u201csocial infrastructure,\u201d like libraries, parks and playgrounds that can foster connections and strengthen communities, said Eric Klinenberg, a New York University sociology professor and author of \u201cPalaces for the People.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we do things we enjoy together, regularly, with the same set of people, we start to develop friendships and a feeling of belonging and a sense of trust,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n