Staten Island has roughly 500,000 residents, its own distinct culture, and a set of challenges that sometimes get less attention than the four boroughs connected to the city by subway. One organization has spent more than four decades trying to make sure that no Staten Islander falls through the cracks: Project Hospitality.

Founded in 1982 as an interfaith response to a growing homeless crisis on the Island, Project Hospitality is now the largest nonprofit on Staten Island. It administers close to 100 government and private contracts and serves more than 40,000 individuals, families, senior citizens, and veterans every year.

How It Started

Project Hospitality was founded by members of the faith community on Staten Island who saw a problem and decided to do something about it. The original mission was simple: reach out to community members who are hungry, homeless, or otherwise in need, and work with them toward self-sufficiency. That mission statement has not changed in more than forty years, even as the organization itself has grown dramatically in scope.

The first programs were food and shelter. Over time, Project Hospitality identified something that many social service organizations miss: for the people it was serving, hunger and homelessness were often symptoms of deeper issues — untreated mental illness, substance use disorders, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, lack of job skills, involvement with the criminal justice system. A hot meal was not enough. What was needed was a continuum of care.

The Continuum of Care Model

Project Hospitality’s continuum of care begins with food, clothing, and shelter, and extends to mental health services, substance use treatment, HIV care, education, vocational training, legal assistance, and housing across multiple models — emergency, transitional, and permanent supportive.

Its HIV support services program operates as a safety net for clients with multiple co-occurring needs, providing a recovery community where living with HIV is addressed alongside other disabilities and life circumstances. This integrated approach — rather than siloing services by category — is part of what has made Project Hospitality effective over the long term.

Faith In Action is another distinctive program: each year, the organization welcomes close to 30 high school, college, and adult groups from across the United States for a weeklong educational mission program. It is one of the ways Project Hospitality has built relationships outside Staten Island while giving participants a direct experience of what urban poverty and community response actually look like.

What Residents Can Access

Project Hospitality’s programs are open to Staten Island residents who are experiencing homelessness, food insecurity, mental health challenges, substance use disorders, or other crises. The organization can be reached through its website at projecthospitality.org, where residents can find information about food donations, volunteer opportunities, and how to access services.

Volunteers and donors are essential to Project Hospitality’s model. The organization runs seasonal holiday drives — accepting donations of gifts and supplies for the children, men, and women in its housing programs. Food donations are also ongoing and always needed, particularly as the costs of food assistance continue to rise.

The Bigger Picture in 2026

Staten Island’s challenges in 2026 include continued recovery from the opioid crisis, persistent housing costs that push low-income residents toward instability, and the impact of federal benefit changes on the people most dependent on those programs. Project Hospitality sits at the intersection of all of these issues.

What makes it a community anchor rather than just a service provider is the fact that its roots are local and its relationships are long. Faith congregations, neighborhood associations, elected officials, and thousands of individual donors have sustained it for more than four decades. That kind of community trust is not built quickly, and it cannot be replicated by a government program or a national nonprofit moving in from outside.

What You Need to Know

• Project Hospitality is the largest nonprofit on Staten Island, founded in 1982. Website: projecthospitality.org.
• The organization serves more than 40,000 individuals, families, seniors, and veterans annually through close to 100 programs and contracts.
• Services include emergency food and shelter, mental health care, substance use treatment, HIV services, legal assistance, vocational training, and permanent supportive housing.
• Volunteers are always welcome — particularly for food drives and seasonal holiday programs. Contact through projecthospitality.org.
• Faith In Action brings volunteer groups from across the US for weeklong immersive programs — a unique way to understand what Project Hospitality does firsthand.
• Residents who need help can find referral information and program contacts at projecthospitality.org.

If you want to understand what sustained community care looks like on Staten Island — not the crisis response, but the everyday long-haul work — Project Hospitality is the organization to know. It has been here longer than most of its neighbors have been alive, and it intends to keep going.

For related Staten Island coverage, see our feature on Nonprofit Staten Island Turns 20 and Beautiful Heartbeats: The Staten Island Nonprofit Built on Friendship.