Trinity is housed in a 1909 Gothic Revival church designed by architect George Conable. Founded by German immigrants, Trinity has been a center of activism around community issues throughout its history. In the 1950s, Trinity organized a 10-year campaign to resist Robert Moses’ urban renewal plan which ultimately demolished 37 acres of buildings around the church, leaving Trinity standing alone as the neighborhood’s only remaining building from that era.

Since 2009, Trinity’s nonprofit partner Trinity Community Connection (TCC) has operated social programs including Trinity Place Shelter. Located in the church’s undercroft, Trinity Place Shelter serves unhoused LGBTQ+ youth in a 10-bed overnight shelter. In addition to TCC’s programs, Trinity organizes meal distribution, supports asylum seekers, shares its community garden, and provides space for worker justice efforts and the arts. Trinity also has a long legacy of offering worship in multiple languages. Beginning in 1949, Trinity hosted Spanish-language worship and later shared its space with Haitian and Chinese congregations. Today, Trinity parters with La Iglesia del Pueblo to serve recently arrived immigrant families in a Spanish language worshipping community.

A National Fund grant of $250,000 with $250,000 in matching funds raised by the congregation will support repairs to masonry, clerestory windows, front steps, and interior plaster. This work will ensure that Trinity can provide a safe, dry, and accessible space for worship and shelter.

Photo by Manhattan Sideways