Henry Street Settlement opens doors of opportunity for Lower East Side residents and other New Yorkers through social service, arts, and health care programs.
A series of conversations rooted in the history of Henry Street Settlement and the Lower East Side.
Time: Wednesdays, Noon to 1 p.m.
- October 1, 2025
- October 29, 2025
- November 12, 2025
- November 19, 2025
Location: Abrons Arts Center, Main Gallery, 466 Grand Street
Free RSVP, please email Katie Vogel or call 212.766.9200 x2250
October 1, 2025, Noon – 1 p.m.
Interview: Durrell M. Washington, Sr., Editor of Abolition and Social Work
Left to right: Durrell M. Washington, Sr. and Shanell Kitt.
Social worker and Rutgers University professor Durrell M. Washington, Sr. will discuss the book he co-edited, Abolition and Social Work: Possibilities, Paradoxes, and the Practice of Community Care. The book explores perspectives on an orientation towards the social work profession that seek to dismantle harmful systems, particularly those related to the criminal legal system and the prison industrial complex, and alternative practices for social workers. Durrell will be in conversation with Shanell Kitt, LMSW, director of the CONNECT program at Henry Street’s Community Consultation Center.
October 29, 2025, Noon – 1 p.m.
Conversation: A Short History of SNAP and Medicaid with Dr. Sara Naomi Bleich, Harvard University, and Joel Berg, Hunger Free America
Left to right: Sara Naomi Bleich and Joel Berg.
Professor of Public Health Policy at Harvard University Sara Naomi Bleich and CEO of Hunger Free America Joel Berg will explore the social conditions that led to the Food Stamp Act of 1964 and Social Security Amendments of 1965, how they were designed to work, and the impact they continue to have today.
November 12, 2025, Noon – 1 p.m.
200 Years of LES Immigration and Migration: Conversation with Kathryn Lloyd, Tenement Museum
Left to right: Kathryn Lloyd and Katie Vogel.
Kathryn Lloyd, vice president of programs and interpretation at the Tenement Museum, will be in conversation with Katie Vogel, Henry Street’s public historian, discussing Lower East Side immigration and migration from the mid-1800s to today and the laws that impacted immigrant communities.
November 19, 2025, Noon – 1 p.m.
Interview: Destiny Mata, Photographer, Lower East Side Yearbook: A Living Archive
Left to right: Destiny Mata and Ali Rosa-Salas.
Artist Destiny Mata discusses her exhibition Lower East Side Yearbook: A Living Archive, a show about Lower East Side public housing residents. Destiny will be in conversation with Ali Rosa-Salas, vice president of visual and performing arts at Henry Street’s Abrons Arts Center.
