The Neighborhood Women Living and Learning Center provides support for women who have made a commitment to community building and to share experiences among those with differing cultural, economic, race and gender backgrounds. It is designed to illustrate how the community can be a learning campus, how wealth can be created through pooling resources, and how intergenerational mentoring and support can sustain leadership and organizing for the long-term.

Mission

The mission of the Center is to continue the legacy of women’s activism in the community by creating an intergenerational public living, learning, and working space that celebrates the history of grassroots women who have taken leadership in their communities. The Center also supports the mission of local, national, and global grassroots women’s groups by providing a home for these organizations.

Primary Activities and Users

The space is used by grassroots and professional women who are members or guests of our networks. It is a safe space and power base for women of all ages and from diverse racial and ethnic, class and religious backgrounds, to visit and exchange experiences and skills.

Short Term Activities

It is open to women who organize or attend support groups and workshops.

Office Space

The Center hosts the offices of local and global women’s community development organizations. The NCNW and Neighborhood Women Williamsburg/Greenpoint are the national and local groups, with support from GROOTS International and the Huairou Commission (HC) at the international level. It provides a base for the accommodation of women from across the global south when they are in New York City to represent their development priorities at the United Nations. As the Secretariat of four organizations—local, national, and two international networks—it supports their activities, including:

  • Local and global advocacy
  • Leadership support and training

Housing

The Center also provides housing for women community leaders of all ages.

Similar centers are established or currently being developed in the Appalachian and Mid-Western regions of the United States, Africa, and Asia.