We have been dreaming of & advocating for a community center for Mott Haven for 10 years, a space focused on holistic health, education, and the arts: The HEArts Center. We are now making that dream a reality.
In response to our sustained advocacy, the City released an RFP/application for the abandoned Lincoln Detox Center building (location of HEArts) in October 2022. Backed by 10 years of organizing for HEArts, more than a dozen community visioning sessions, and a highly skilled team, we submitted the strongest application possible in January 2023. In Summer 2023, we learned that we won the RFP, a monumental victory for our community! And, in October, we signed the conditional designation letter with the city, which will allow us to move into the pre-development stages of renovating the building.
Learn about the HEArts Center:
Land Power (Places Journal)
Design and Advocacy in the South Bronx (Urban Omnibus)
Lincoln Detox Center: The People’s Drug Program (The Abolitionist)
Taking Back the South Bronx (WNYC)
Residents Hope to Transform Closed Treatment Center (Mott Haven Herald)
Turn Former Rehab Center into Community Center, Bronx Residents Say (dna info)
Residents Continue Push for New Community Arts Center at Abandoned Rehab Clinic (Mott Haven Herald)
Bronx Acupuncture Center for Addiction Fighting to Survive (The Bronx Ink)
Organization Pushes to Turn Vacant Building into Community Center (News12)
Bronx Group Gets $40K to Help Turn Old Rehab Center into Community Center (dna info)
Taking Back the Bronx (Documentary)
Below are our community’s desires for HEArts:
- Neighborhood residents want a community center focused on health, education, and the arts: HEArts. This was made clear through the dozen-plus community visioning sessions held over the last 10 years. Through these sessions, South Bronx Unite and the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards (our local community land trust) documented the ideas, hopes, and input of neighborhood residents.
- Neighborhood residents want the HEArts building to serve as a stable and deeply affordable home for community organizations that provide important programs and services for community residents, including organizations that have done the work despite not having a permanent space.
- Neighborhood residents want the HEArts building to be a space for community and cultural gatherings, as well as for programming focused on arts, education, and holistic wellness.
- Public land should be in public hands and public land should be used for public good. The Lincoln Detox building is city-owned (public property) and the local community land trust, the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards, started and led by neighborhood residents, should get priority for the building. The Land Stewards have a long-standing track record of stewarding public spaces, including community gardens.
- The community wants to honor the historical significance of the Lincoln Detox Center by creating a space that provides a wide range of programming for a wide range of community residents, programming focused on holistic wellness, improving quality of life, and building community power. (The Lincoln Detox Center was a space where acupuncture was pioneered as a treatment for drug addiction by the Young Lords and Black Panthers, and where maternal health services and community empowerment workshops were offered).