On Aug. 10, Westhab Inc. will celebrate its 40th anniversary of serving low-income and homeless individuals and families in Westchester County and beyond. Since its founding in 1981, Westhab has been delivering hope and opportunity and fostering vibrant and just communities by creating high-quality homes that are affordable, providing pathways to permanent housing for people who are experiencing homelessness, supplying ladders to a living wage, and empowering youth to reach their full potential. In honor of this milestone, on the 40th anniversary of Westhab’s founding, Westhab President and CEO Rich Nightingale and Westhab COO Jim Coughlin are visiting 40 of Westhab’s program sites in one day. During their visits, Nightingale and Coughlin will meet with the employees that make Westhab’s work possible as well as with the people that Westhab serves.
“As we reflect on Westhab’s 40 years of service and impact, we are only more energized and more committed for the next 40,” said Nightingale. “On the 40th anniversary of Westhab’s Certificate of Incorporation being filed with New York State, Westhab’s COO Jim Coughlin and I will be visiting 40 of Westhab’s sites including shelters, affordable housing, employment centers, and youth programs, to thank the best team in the business who prove every day that where there is a Westhab, there is a way.”
Since it was first established, Westhab has made a significant impact on the lives of those in need by maximizing every opportunity to address the homelessness and affordable housing crises. In its early years, Westhab transformed the Wyndham Hotel in Yonkers into 63 units of transitional and affordable housing,
successfully piloted the Emergency Housing Assistance Program, and grew its shelter operations in response to the growing need in Westchester.
By 1999, Westhab had opened its first ground-up development in southwest Yonkers, and in 2006, Westhab began a new chapter by starting its first community based youth program and opening three additional ground-up affordable housing buildings. Westhab began its expansion into New York City
in 2012 with two out-of-school time programs in the Bronx. In the same year, Westhab launched the FirstSteps program in Westchester County to help formerly homeless parents living with disabilities break the cycle of poverty and create better futures for themselves and their children. More recently, Westhab opened its state-of-the-art employment center in Mount Vernon and its 10th NYC shelter, in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
2021 has been an exciting year for Westhab so far. The organization partnered with the city of Yonkers to launch Project Connect, a program that conducts outreach and delivers support to unsheltered homeless individuals. In June, Westhab and New York City prevailed in an important lawsuit that sought to prevent the opening of the Park Savoy shelter in Midtown Manhattan, showing that no neighborhood is exempt from caring for our neighbors most in need. Coming up in September, Westhab will open the Dayspring Campus, which includes a 63-unit affordable and supportive housing residence and a state-of-theart community center in the Nodine Hill neighborhood of Yonkers. The Dayspring Community Center will offer a wide range of programs and services including
youth programming, adult education, job training, a food pantry, a business center and a fully equipped gymnasium.
In its first 40 years of service,
Westhab has built 912 affordable housing units, moved 8,635 households from homelessness into affordable housing, placed 6,815 people into employment, and delivered services to more than 10,000 homeless and at-risk youth. Rich Nightingale and Jim Coughlin will begin their 40th-anniversary visits in North Salem, and will then continue to locations in Greenburgh, Mamaroneck, White Plains, Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. (Submitted)
