Block Party Celebrates Community, BY WINNIE McCROY Help ensure that women and girls in New York City can live free from violence and discrimination by heading to West 20th St., between 10th and 11th Aves., on Sat., October 13 from noon to 6 p.m. for The Women’s Building Third Annual Community Block Party. The event is a chance to learn more about this new hub for the global girls’ and women’s rights movement, which will rise from the former Bayview Correctional Facility. “This Saturday is our Third Annual Block party, which really brings the Chelsea community together in front of the future Women’s Building, with a chance to experience the energy and vibrancy that it is all about,” said Pamela Shifman, Executive Director of the NoVo Foundation, an organization dedicated to ending violence and discrimination against girls and women. “In this political moment and over the past year, where many women have felt anger, sadness, and pain, this block party offers a place for New Yorkers to convene in a moment of hope, celebration, and possibility for a future that is all about joy, liberation, equity, and
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October 11, 2018
File photo by Dusica Sue Malesevic
From last year’s Block Party: Formerly incarcerated at Bayview and now invested in its future as The Women’s Building, Marcie Chase (third from left) encouraged others to share their vision for the repurposed correctional facility.
justice.” It will also be an opportunity to hear musical talent at work, to watch and participate in dance, to create art, and
to “learn about all the incredible activism for women and girls happening in New York City and across the nation,” Shifman noted.
In late 2015, Chelsea Now reported that the governor and the NoVo Foundation announced the facility would become The Women’s Building. The 100,000-square-foot space, located across from the Chelsea Piers sports complex, will be renovated by NoVo and Goren Group, an ongoing adviser for the project. Located at 550 W. 20th St., Bayview served as a women’s prison for many years, until it was evacuated and shuttered. Said Shifman, “When Hurricane Sandy caused Bayview to be closed up in 2012 and it later became available, we knew the history made it the perfect spot for our Women’s Building.” As their website reads, “The Women’s Building stands for what’s possible when the potential of girls and women is nurtured, rather than locked away. Through its very structure and planning, it serves a new kind of justice, one based on collaboration, partnership, fairness and equity.” The nine-story structure was originally built as a Seamen’s House YMCA in 1931, housing sailors and merchant marine crews on the Chelsea waterfront. In addition to Art Deco massing
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