The Rose Center: Honoring our Founder

Rose Gruening observed desperate circumstances affecting families on the Lower East Side in the early 1900s. New immigrants looking to provide for their family needed housing, healthcare, and activities to keep their children safe and healthy.

In 1907, Gruening founded Camp Moodna to serve as a summer camp for low-income children to escape unsanitary living conditions and allow parents time to work without the worry of childcare.

Just nine years later in 1916, Gruening founded Grand St. Settlement to help the same immigrant families achieve self-sufficiency. Over more than 100 years, Grand Street would expand and strengthen services, providing high-quality affordable child care, afterschool programs and summer camps for youth, and community space for older adults.

Grand St. Settlement’s expansion into Brooklyn in the 1980s laid the groundwork for becoming an organization of choice for community members throughout New York City. In the 2010s and 2020s, Grand Street expanded tremendously, growing our advocacy, partnerships, and impact in The Lower East Side, Brooklyn, and The Bronx. This expansion was done in partnership and with the trust of our neighbors.

As Grand Street continues to evolve, we center Rose Gruening's core purpose from over 110 years ago: empowering New York City's families and the communities in which they reside.