92nd Street Y

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The 92nd Street Y is a multifaceted cultural institution and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Its full name is the 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association (YM-YWHA).

Founded in 1874 by German-Jewish professionals and businessmen, the 92nd Street Y has grown into an organization guided by Jewish principles but serving people of all races and faiths.

The Y serves over 300,000 people annually and offers over 200 programs a day. Its 33 program areas include community outreach; lectures and panel discussions; Jewish education and culture; concerts featuring classical, jazz and popular music; humanities classes; dance performances; literary readings; film screenings; parenting programs; camps; a nursery school; fitness classes, singles programs; seniors programs; a library; a day spa; and a residence program that rents rooms in the Y's main building at 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

Kaufmann Concert Hall, a 917-seat theater, is the home for concerts, performances, readings and lectures.

The 92nd Street Y comprises eight programming centers: Bronfman Center for Jewish Life; Lillian & Sol Goldman Family Center for Youth & Family; Makor/Steinhardt Center; May Center for Health; Fitness & Sport; Milstein/Rosenthal Center for Media & Technology; School of the Arts; Charles Simon Center for Adult Life & Learning; and Tisch Center for the Arts.

Individuals of note who have performed, lectured or taught at the 92nd Street Y include Dylan Thomas, Yo-Yo Ma, Emma Lazarus, William Carlos Williams, Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Elie Wiesel, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Edward Albee, Jimmy Carter, Francis Ford Coppola, Norman Mailer, Vladimir Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Dustin Hoffman, Howard Zinn, Frank Gehry and T.S. Eliot.

In 2002, it came to light that Jack Grubman, a Citigroup analyst specializing in the telecommunications sector, upgraded his previously low rating of AT&T as part of a deal with his boss, Sandy Weill, to get the former's two children admitted to the preschool at the Y. Weill had Citigroup donate US$1 million to the school; the children were later admitted. ^[1]