Bowery Mission Harlem | New Hope Community Center

In March of 2013 Pilot Projects was commissioned by The Bowery Mission to help them innovate and design the service experience for a new facility in Spanish Harlem. Mission leadership felt it was critical to create an inviting street-front experience, with ground floor spaces and programs that would serve the specific needs of neighborhood residents.

Pilot Projects worked with staff and leaders of Bowery Mission as well as local residents, to co-create a vision for this five story building and the spaces to match. This included a community town hall space, a men's residential recovery program for 60 men, job training facilities, and a wide variety of social services including free legal and medical clinics. One focus was a new concept for the ground floor of the building, which we modeled after a cafe and co-working space. The objective was to create a flexible space that would offer concierge-type help desk services, as well as a place to work and collaborate in a casual setting. The service model included food, coffee, technology and entrepreneurial assistance for local businesses. This was all designed to be easily accessed from the street front, with a separate entrance from the residents.