Manhattan Youth Community Center Lays Foundations That Endure
The Downtown Community Center, part of the 32-year-old nonprofit Manhattan Youth organization in Tribeca, was born in the effort to rebuild Lower Manhattan after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Today, the center is a vibrant hub of activity on Warren Street, welcoming people of all ages to classes in swimming, basketball, tennis, martial arts, ceramics, cooking, tumbling, dance, and more.
The center offers family memberships, as well as adult and senior memberships. “We have three priorities that we emphasize above all else,” explains Camille Diamond, director of the Manhattan Youth Downtown Community Center: “the whole child, the whole family, and the whole community. This is where kids meet, but the parents of those kids also meet, and caregivers get to know other caregivers. Out of this, webs of friendship form, coalescing into extended clans. And that connective tissue is what builds community.”
“The common theme is the opportunities we foster for education and learning and connection,” she says. Programmatically, this often translates into partnerships with local organizations and small businesses.
“Manhattan Youth is rooted in the history of an earlier Tribeca, when Bob Townley,” who founded the organization and still serves as its executive director, “had a vision to serve children and families with social and emotional learning. This is our niche,” Ms. Diamond says. “Bob was a neighborhood resident who had kids and cared about kids. So there’s history here – a longstanding tradition about what and whom we serve.”
Manhattan Youth also manages the after-school programs at many Lower Manhattan public schools, as well as local sports leagues.
Sometimes the life path of alums leads back to Manhattan Youth. “One of alums, Marcus Rappaport, took karate lessons at the Community Center decades ago when he was in elementary school,” recalls Ms. Diamond. He went on to found the Tutorverse test-prep service, which now partners with Manhattan Youth to coach students for the specialized high school admissions test (SHSAT). “Bob liked their philosophy that families seeking access to SHSAT should have this opportunity, so we give them space here on the weekends, for semester-long weekend workshops.”
This is one of several partnerships with local organizations that Manhattan Youth is incubating. “New American Youth Ballet has been a fixture in Lower Manhattan for decades,” notes Ms. Diamond. “But after the pandemic, they were looking for a new home. When director Elizabeth Flores reached out to Bob, we had space available on Saturdays.” New American Youth Ballet now offers classes at the Downtown Community Center to multiple age groups, and recently produced The Nutcracker over the holiday season.
“Our dancers and families love the positive energy and the wonderful staff at Manhattan Youth,” Ms. Flores said. “We are so thankful to be back dancing and performing in this gem of a community.”
The same template governs offerings from Music with Corey, Tribeca Clayworks, and other vendors at the Downtown Community Center. “We’ve been focusing on creating partnerships with local, small businesses that are mission-aligned with Manhattan Youth, and who we want to support and see thrive in Tribeca,” Ms. Diamond says.
“The magic that happens here doesn’t occur all by itself or by accident,” she notes. “It happens in venues and incubators like this Community Center. Our greatest strength is that Manhattan Youth is wired into the DNA of Tribeca and Lower Manhattan.”