Weston United's mission statement painted on one of Gallery M's walls. Photo by Linda Abi Assi/Northattan.
Raju Ratti used to be one of the 36,000 people who are homeless in New York City. He was also among the more than half of them who are mentally ill.
But a year ago, he was admitted to Weston United, a nonprofit organization that provides housing to people who are homeless and mentally ill. He started out in supportive housing with 24-hour coverage, but he now has a job, acting as a peer leader, and he has moved on to more independent living.
In Weston United’s newsletter of April 2010, he wrote: “I am not alone. I used to think I was. This was because I am guilty of prejudice.”
Weston United provides both transitional and permanent housing programs, as well as residential services, job training and mental health services and houses about 150 people. It’s one of many providers all over New York City, but according to its CEO, Jean Newburg, it’s the only organization in Harlem that is grassroots. “We are from Harlem and by Harlem,” she says.
Since its founding in 1985 by members of St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church and Harlem Hospital, Weston United has expanded to several buildings and programs scattered all over Northern Manhattan and the Bronx. A clubhouse, Club United, was recently put in place at West 125th street and St. Nicholas Avenue. Members, in addition to gaining social skills, receive help in securing government benefits, housing, case management and educational advancement, along with medical and psychiatric care.
Newburg says the clubhouse concept is an international model, originally started by Fountain House, a nonprofit based in New York that also targets the mentally ill. Weston United’s programs have long been following the clubhouse example- its first clubhouse, Casita Unida, is in Spanish Harlem. But the state of New York is now embracing a new model, called P.R.O.S (Personalized Recovery Oriented Services). Newburg says it is a more “educational and person-centered model” with different levels of intensity as patients’ needs change. “We’ll also have a clinical treatment component by next summer, so every member of the P.R.O.S., which we have renamed PROsper Academy, can have access to services from a psychiatrist and nurse,” she says.
Mahamadou Savane's collages are currently displayed at Gallery M, where some members of Weston United volunteer. Photos by Linda Abi Assi/Northattan.
Weston United is celebrating is 25th anniversary this year, but despite recent changes, its future is uncertain. “We had rollbacks of state contracts, our Medicaid rate was reduced, then there was another cut on top of that. We’ve had to tighten our belts,” says Newburg. One program that “has been under-siege from every side” is Gallery M, Weston United’s art gallery on 135th street.
Last week, its latest exhibit displayed paintings and collages by Willie Torbert, an African-American contemporary artist, and Mahamadou Savane, a Senegalese artist who currently lives in the Bronx.
Newburg says that for many years, Weston United had a contract with the NYC Department of Mental Health, which allowed the gallery to employ 12 members of Weston United on a part-time basis at Gallery M and its Visionary bookstore. “The city of New York canceled our contract in June,” she says, “and members who were receiving minimum wage for their employment are now volunteering their time.” Gallery M was also asked to sign a costly lease after a new owner took control of the building.
Newburg says Weston United is currently looking for a sponsorship for the program, by mobilizing what she likes to call the “Harlem Cultural Connection.” When it opened in 1986, Gallery M was the only small community arts gallery in the neighborhood. Now that it’s in danger of closing its doors, Newburg hopes the community will in turn chip in to help save it.
