Hunter School of Social Work to Move

The New York Community Trust and its Lois and Samuel J. Silberman Fund are featured in this Times article by Glenn Collins, 10/28/08.

Hunter School of Social Work to Move

..."We had to move out of the physical structure that didn't work for us anymore," said Jennifer J. Raab, president of Hunter College. "Now we'll have a building to match our vision for the 21st century."

The new school, to be called the Lois V. and Samuel J. Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, after its benefactors, will be at Third Avenue from 118th Street to 119th Street, stretching west toward Lexington Avenue. The parcel now consists of a vacant lot and low-rise buildings; there are no residential tenants, Ms. Raab said. Small stores and restaurants on the site will be demolished.

Harlem is "exactly the right place in the city to build the school," said Matthew Goldstein, the university chancellor. "Many of our students live in the Harlem area, and our faculty members are connected with Harlem and will be working with organizations that reside there. It made a tremendous amount of sense."

As the city's only public school for graduate training in social work, Hunter, with its $7,500 tuition, "will be very attractive to students in the community," Dr. Goldstein said.

The school's current building, leased by Hunter, was built and expanded with $5.675 million from the Lois and Samuel J. Silberman Fund. The Silbermans retained ownership of the land and tower in conjunction with the New York Community Trust, a nonprofit organization that oversees charitable gifts.

To read the full article, please click here.