![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Page-8-Photo-POTS.jpg\")
<\/a>(L-R) ASSEMBLYMAN GEORGE ALVAREZ (A.D. 78), Ana Chapman, chief program director at The HOPE Program, Christina Hanson, executive director at POTS, and Keith Pagnani, chair of POTS\u2019 board of directors, cut the ribbon at the second location of POTS in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Photo by Jos\u00e9 A. Giralt<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: For the final edition of the Norwood News, after 38 years, we are looking back at some local community organizations which have helped shape the Northwest Bronx to see how they have evolved, and what they have been working on since we first launched the newspaper in October 1988. The nonprofit, Part of the Solution (POTS), is one such organization. <\/p>\n
According to its website, POTS is a loving community in The Bronx striving to serve all who come to its doors. From meeting immediate needs, to offering long-term comprehensive services, POTS partners with each individual to empower them to reach their potential. Christina Hanson, POTS executive director, and Diego Padilla, POTS director of external relations and communications, provide an overview of how the nonprofit is redefining stability in The Bronx.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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For more than four decades<\/a>, Part of the Solution (POTS) has grown alongside The Bronx communities it serves, responding to changing needs while remaining grounded in a vision established by its founders in 1982. That was to create a loving community and a network of support for New Yorkers facing hardship. Food assistance was the first expression of that vision, beginning with a soup kitchen, but\u00a0POTS\u00a0quickly recognized that helping people overcome poverty would require addressing the many challenges affecting their lives.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n That understanding shaped the organization\u00a0POTS\u00a0is today. A food pantry opened in 1996, followed by a legal clinic in 2000 to help neighbors facing eviction and other challenges. Over time,\u00a0POTS\u00a0continued adding services addressing public benefits, housing, employment, education, personal care and other barriers to stability. Mentoring created opportunities for clients to establish longer-term goals, while showers, haircuts and other Dignity & Wellness services ensured that people facing hardship could access essential care with dignity.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n That evolution has also made\u00a0POTS\u00a0a trusted resource during periods of extraordinary uncertainty. The organization remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as need surged across The Bronx. In 2025, the federal government shutdown and uncertainty surrounding food assistance once again left families concerned about their ability to meet basic needs.\u00a0POTS\u00a0responded with food, services, information and reassurance while advocating alongside partners for stronger solutions. The circumstances have changed considerably since 1982, but the ability to listen and adapt to what Bronx families need has remained central to the organization.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n New and expanded facilities followed as the number of people seeking assistance grew. Today,\u00a0POTS\u00a0brings these resources together with its own methodology so that someone who first comes through its doors for groceries or a hot meal can connect with a broader network of support that improves their chances of finding a better future.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The scale of that work now reaches around 37,000 New Yorkers each year. In 2025,\u00a0POTS\u2019 pantry provided the equivalent of more than 2.8 million meals. Its legal team prevented 413 evictions, while case management and benefits services helped households access approximately $17 million in public benefits. Across the organization, these programs provide immediate relief while creating opportunities to address the underlying circumstances that can keep individuals and families in cycles of poverty.<\/p>\n POTS\u00a0is now undertaking a major transformation built around an ambitious next step: scaling a model designed to help more families achieve lasting stability and intergenerational upward mobility. Central to that effort is the Stability Index, a methodology developed by\u00a0POTS\u00a0to track client progress across five interconnected areas: housing, finances, health, education and day-to-day essentials. It represents an important shift in how the organization holds itself accountable. Success cannot be measured only in meals provided, applications completed, or appointments held.\u00a0POTS\u00a0also wants to understand whether people\u2019s lives are changing, and which strategies are most effective in helping them progress.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Decades of relationships and trust within the community provide the foundation for this next stage. With a larger team and expanded physical capacity,\u00a0POTS\u00a0will be able to bring its model to more families, strengthen coordination across services, and use the Stability Index to identify which interventions are most effective at helping clients make measurable progress.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n After more than four decades,\u00a0POTS\u2019 ambition extends beyond increasing the number of people it serves. The organization aims to demonstrate what is possible when trusted community relationships, integrated services and meaningful measures of long-term progress come together to help families achieve greater stability across generations.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n By testing and strengthening that approach in The Bronx,\u00a0POTS\u00a0hopes the lessons learned locally can eventually inform how other organizations and communities confront poverty beyond the borough.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In the decades of\u00a0Norwood News\u00a0documenting The Bronx, its coverage of\u00a0POTS\u00a0also provides a record of an organization that has continued to evolve alongside its community.\u00a0 In the words of our executive director, Christina Hanson: \u201cWe are firm believers in the potential that resides in local communities, our ability to connect despite our differences, and the power that sharing our experiences has to effect positive change in society.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n She adds, \u201cIn the past decades of reporting our work and impact, we have been extremely appreciative of Norwood News for having kept the humanity at the center of its storytelling, giving people an opportunity to feel the heart of The Bronx.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Christina Hanson is executive director of Part of the Solution and Diego Padilla is director of external relations and communications at Part of the Solution.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n To read more about POTS, click here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>,<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By CHRISTINA HANSON & DIEGO PADILLA (L-R) ASSEMBLYMAN GEORGE ALVAREZ (A.D. 78), Ana Chapman, chief program director…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-332454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>A DEC 6, 2001 front page article about the work of Part of the Solution is seen in the Norwood News print archives.
Photo by S\u00edle Moloney<\/p>\n