In the city that never sleeps, there are tremendous challenges for the homeless and urban poor.  This service experience will provide service scholars with the opportunity to listen, learn, and take action.

New York City is a place of tremendous opportunity, and tremendous challenges. The phrase “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” has inspired many to achieve great things and great wealth.  However, for those that don’t “make it” New York is a difficult place. Students will experience New York City in ways that tourists don’t.  They will be engaged in work with homeless populations in partnership with an establish local organization.  Students will return home with a first-hand understanding of poverty in its various forms, and, at the same time, realize that although poor, people can be rich in other significant ways.  

Exploration of the The Big Apple will also be included.  You will visit, among other sites, Battery Park, Ellis Island and Wall Street .  At the same time you will dine on famous New York Pizza and other delectable foods indigenous to the many cultures represented in this city.

Academic Themes: Urban Poverty, Immigration in Urban Centers, Homelessness in America, Educational Equity

Sample Itinerary

Day 1:  Arrival
  • Top of the Rock Observation Deck.  Evening walking tour of Midtown Manhattan.
Day 2: Orientation
  • Morning/Afternoon:  Morning Orientation on homelessness and the challenges of urban poverty
  • Evening: Students will take a walking tour of Harlem, see the Apollo, the vibrant community life on 125th street, and enjoy some soul food.
Day 3: Homelessness and the Urban Poor
  • Morning/Afternoon: Students will work at the Bowery Mission Homeless Shelter by serving meals, and/or engaging in a service project defined by the organization.
  • Evening:  Students will tour Wall Street and Battery Park, travel to Brooklyn for spectacular city views, and enjoy authentic NYC pizza, followed by a walk across Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan.
Day 4: Homelessness and the Urban Poor
  • Morning/Afternoon:  Students will continue their service work at the Bowery Mission
  • Evening:  Travel to Chelsea and walk the Highline, one of New York’s amazing conservation/restoration projects.  Stroll through the iconic Greenwich Village and take in it’s rich history and delicious food.
Day 5: Homelessness and the Urban Poor
  • Morning/Afternoon:  Final day to serve with the Bowery Mission and students will spend time reflecting on their experience.  Later, students will tour Central park and see landmarks such as Bethesda  Fountain, Belvedere Castle and the Great Lawn.
  • Evening:  Dinner at a local eatery and then students will explore the Upper West Side and compare this neighborhood with their experiences over the last 5 days.
Day 6: Cultural Study and Exploration
  • Morning/Afternoon:  Begin with trip to the lower East End to visit the Tenement Museum, where students will learn how immigrants survived in below third world conditions in the early days of NYC. Take a walking tour of the ever-changing neighborhood.   Enjoy lunch in Chinatown.  Walking tour of Chinatown observing the culture, language and folk ways.
  • Evening:  Dinner in Little Italy, shopping and conclude with a Broadway show.
Day 7: Wrap-Up/Sightseeing & Travel Home
  • Morning/Afternoon:  Last minute shopping, head to Queens for ethnic Greek lunch and tour one of the city’s most diverse boroughs.
  • Evening:   Head home with a heart and mind full of memories of great times with your group but also with a sense of accomplishment that you were involved in service that just might have changed the future for someone in need of hope.