Block Communities, Inc. records

1962-2021 [bulk 1964-1971]

Block Communities, Inc. (BCI) was a community organizing anti-poverty agency that operated in New York City. Originating in the Manhattan neighborhood of East Harlem, BCI eventually extended into the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. Community organizers were assigned one city block, where they moved in, surveyed each of the residents, and, according to co-founder David Borden, "gently organized them into interest groups that would pool their ideas and energies to solve local problems." By 1968, BCI supported over thirty organizers and blocks.

It was founded in 1965 as the Block Development Project (BDP). In 1966, after the East Harlem anti-poverty program Massive Economic Neighborhood Development (MEND) hired many of the BDP members, a new board was formed with new interim financing and BCI began operations.

BCI, after holding community meetings, helped to establish summer programs for young children that employed neighborhood teenagers, sparked and supported rent strikes, established daycare facilities, organized garbage pickup events, supported drug treatment services, and worked on pocket parks and housing refurbishment. Some BCI members were present in the New York City riots that were part of the "Long, Hot Summer of 1967" and members detailed conditions of the unrest from July 22nd through the 30th.

BCI staff also trained community organizers from other agencies, through their affiliation with Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA, which eventually became a part of AmeriCorps). Funded briefly by the Lindsay administration, BCI ceased operations due to lack of funding in 1968, but some volunteers continued to work in their neighborhoods until 1970.