Like many of New York’s waterfronts, the Harlem River’s waterfront has lain mostly abandoned, underutilized, or inaccessible for much of the past 70 years. In recent years however, waterfronts have undergone a renaissance as local organizations have worked to reclaim neglected areas and fill them with people, energy and life. Harlem River Community Rowing plays a special role in these efforts, providing desperately needed recreational programming and bringing people out beyond the waterfronts to the waterways themselves in partnership with local organizations like the Alianza Dominicana, the NYC Parks/Highbridge Recreational Center, Waterfront Alliance, Row New York, and the High Bridge Coalition, and the Harlem River Working Group.
- To expand waterfront and waterway access options for all New Yorkers
- To create affordable water-based physical fitness and recreational opportunities, especially for New York’s Upper Manhattan, West and South-Bronx communities
- To provide on-water access for structured, non-motorized boating activities and instruction in the sport of rowing
- To create a community boathouse on the Harlem and to contribute to the re-emergence of the Harlem River “Sculler’s Row” begun by the New York Restoration Project.
A special thank you to Empire State Rowing Association for their partnership and unwavering support of our work toward achieving these goals. Their 25 years of dedicated service to NYC rowing is an inspiration to us.