On Saturday, September 26, over 1,000 New Yorkers came together to jump-start the changes they wanted to see in our community and city at our #JUMPstartChange Rally. Community members, leaders, and Grand St. Settlement staff took part in community service projects – packing 100 fly bags filled with essentials for homeless LGBTQA youth and building 100 personal gardens for homebound seniors to bring in the beauty of the outdoors.

Participants also shared their wishes, dreams, and hopes for the future on our colorful Change Wall. There were many recurring themes and a consensus on a number of concerns including: better and more low-income housing, less violence, more police patrol, better relationships with police, more parks (and basketball courts!), and helping to care for the homeless. We’ll be sure to share each Change message in an upcoming post!

We also made sure we partied like it was almost our 100th birthday, because the rally was just 100 days before our centennial year! We shared delicious slices from Pizza Luca and sweat treats from Polkadot Cupcake with our neighbors, made music, saw inspiriting performances by our senior and youth community members, JUMPed up high with rope and in a bouncy house, competed (in a friendly manner, of course!) in a JUMP shot contest in our gymnasium, and honored changemakers in the community.

Special thanks to:

– actor and alum Victor Rasuk for MCing
– Council members Margaret Chin and Rosie Mendez for attending and encouraging our work
– all of our #JUMPstartChange Award honorees for their outstand work and dedication to empowering, supporting, and advocating for New Yorkers
– Pizza Luca and Polkadot Cupcake for the tasty bites (yum!)

…and many others for volunteering or participating in jumpstarting changes big and small in our community. ‘Til next time!

For more photos, check out our Facebook album here!