The Educational Alliance (Norman grantee 1956–1959) was founded in 1889 on the Lower East Side as a settlement house serving Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe — offering English classes, vocational training, cultural programming, and social services; over the decades, it became one of New York’s most beloved community institutions. By the 1950s, the Lower East Side’s population had changed dramatically — new immigrant communities had arrived, and the neighborhood was grappling with rising rates of juvenile delinquency and drug abuse. In 1954, the Alliance joined the Lower Eastside Neighborhoods Association to address these challenges and launched Operation Street Corner — deploying trained social workers to make daily, direct contact with members of emerging teenage street gangs. Rather than waiting for young people to come through its doors, the Alliance went to them. Norman’s grants were earmarked for Operation Street Corner, recognizing an innovative outreach model that would later be incorporated into the federally funded Mobilization for Youth campaign, one of the elements of President Johnson’s national War on Poverty.

Tags: Community Safety, Social Welfare