Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan . Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street , 110th Street (the northern boundary of Central Park ), 125th Street , or 155th Street . The term Uptown can refer to Upper Manhattan, but is often used more generally for neighborhoods above 59th Street ; in the broader definition, Uptown encompasses Upper Manhattan.
20-851: The Religion Communicators Council is an American nonprofit organization representing marketing, communications and public relations officers from 60 different faith-based institutions in the United States. Founded in 1929 as the Religious Publicity Council, it changed its name to the National Religious Publicity Council in 1949, the Religious Public Relations Council in 1963, and became the Religion Communicators Council in 1998. It
40-556: A collaborative environment for a community of widely differing Christian denominations and their ecumenical activities, the center now also houses a growing number of interfaith groups, including Odyssey Networks and The Interfaith Center of New York, plus several Jewish and Muslim organizations. Over the 50-year history of the facility, some national churches such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and
60-543: A series of sit-ins at denominational offices in the building, demanding that the denominations pay reparations to black Americans. At the height of the protests, half of the center's 2,000 employees stayed away from work in support of Forman. Tenants of the building eventually obtained an injunction from the New York State Supreme Court , barring Forman and the NBEDC from the building. Hands Around
80-636: A stained-glass trophy and $ 250. The award is named for Marvin C. Wilbur , a pioneer in religious public relations and longtime Council leader. The 2010 Awards were presented on April 9 during Religion Communication Congress 2010 at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile. Manya A. Brachear, religion reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a double Wilbur Awards winner in 2009, was master of ceremonies. Interchurch Center The Interchurch Center
100-491: Is a 19-story limestone-clad office building located at 475 Riverside Drive and West 120th Street in Morningside Heights , Manhattan , New York City . It is the headquarters for the international humanitarian ministry Church World Service , and also houses a wide variety of church agencies and ecumenical and interfaith organizations as well as some nonprofit foundations and faith-related organizations, including
120-624: The 1 train of the New York City Subway stops at 125th Street and Broadway . 40°48′38.87″N 73°57′49.45″W / 40.8107972°N 73.9637361°W / 40.8107972; -73.9637361 Upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is generally taken to include the neighborhoods of Manhattan Inwood , Washington Heights (including Fort George, Sherman Creek and Hudson Heights ), Harlem (including Sugar Hill , Hamilton Heights and Manhattanville ), East Harlem , Morningside Heights , and Manhattan Valley (in
140-657: The Religion Communicators Council . The National Council of Churches also occupied the building from its inception, but in February 2013, the NCC consolidated its offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, and vacated its New York headquarters facilities. NCC's sister agency, Church World Service, remains a tenant in the building. Its concentration of religious organizations has led some to nickname
160-665: The Upper West Side ). The George Washington Bridge connects Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan across the Hudson River to Fort Lee, New Jersey , and is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge. In the late 19th century, the IRT Ninth Avenue Line and other elevated railroads brought people to the previously rustic Upper Manhattan. Until the late 20th century it was less influenced by
180-712: The gentrification that had taken place in other parts of New York over the previous 30 years. Like other residential areas, Upper Manhattan is not a major center of tourism in New York City , although many tourist attractions lie within it, such as Grant's Tomb , the Apollo Theater , United Palace , and The Cloisters , Sylvia's Restaurant , the Hamilton Grange , the Morris–Jumel Mansion , Minton's Playhouse , Sugar Hill , Riverside Church ,
200-711: The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine . The building is assigned its own ZIP Code , 10115; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019 and the only such building in Upper Manhattan . The center was built in 1958 with gifts by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and other donors, together with a consortium of religious denominations, with the objective of encouraging cooperative work among such diverse religious groups as
220-562: The God Box, an interfaith prayer vigil to end religious homophobia, was held at the Interchurch Center on June 24, 1994. More than 500 people from 15 LGBTQ religious groups joined hands and were linked by a rainbow ribbon that completely encircled the building. The center's current occupants include mission boards, pension boards, and other agencies of several national denominations. Expanding on its original mission of providing
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#1732776160804240-637: The New York facilities. The Center benefits from a strong religious and educational environment. One of its tenants is the New York Theological Seminary . The building is located immediately south of Riverside Church and west of Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University , and is a short walk to Jewish Theological Seminary , Manhattan School of Music , the Korean Methodist Church and Institute , and
260-667: The Orthodox, African-American, and mainstream Protestant denominations and to foster the growth of ecumenical bodies such as the National Council of Churches. A condition of the Rockefeller gift was that the exterior of the structure had to be clad in the same color limestone as Riverside Church, across 120th Street, the Rockefellers' church home at the time. In the presence of a crowd of more than 30,000 gathered at
280-759: The Presbyterian Church (USA), following mergers with sister churches, relocated their primary offices to cities nearer to the majority of their constituencies, but have continued to maintain significant operations in the Interchurch Center. Several city and state denominational offices, the Council of Churches of the City of New York , and groups as varied as Agricultural Missions, Inc., and the Foundation for Christian Higher Education in Asia also occupy space in
300-522: The building site, the center's cornerstone was laid by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower , whose Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles , and Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Arthur S. Flemming , were active in the work of the National Council of Churches. In 1969, James Forman , civil rights activist and executive director of the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC), led
320-583: The building the God Box . Samuel G. Freedman describes the building as "the closest thing to a Vatican for America’s mainline Protestant denominations." The mainline churches include the Episcopal , Lutheran , Presbyterian , Reformed Church in America , Methodist and United Church of Christ denominations. But across the years many of them moved their headquarters closer to the majority of their constituents, leaving only certain divisions or offices in
340-633: The center, along with offices and classrooms of New York Theological Seminary , and offices of The Rockefeller Brothers Fund. National interfaith ministries in the building include Religion Communicators Council , Odyssey Networks (a religious media distribution agency of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition ), and the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility. The simplicity of the building's architecture, intended to complement rather than compete with
360-491: The gothic architecture of surrounding institutional buildings, has caused some critics to disparage its design. Columbia University architecture historian Andrew Dolkart calls the Center "an undistinguished, bulky, limestone building." Other critics have called it "clumsily articulated," and "a squat cube". Amenities provided to organizations and agencies who occupy the center are: A Wednesday noontime concert series during
380-583: The spring and fall features classical, gospel, jazz and choral music at no charge and open to the general public. The Interchurch Center Chorus and the Gospel Choir, both populated by tenant employees, present periodic concerts in the center's chapel. The Interchurch Center is served by the M5 bus on Riverside Drive, M4 , M104 buses along Broadway, and the M11 and M60 SBS buses on Amsterdam Avenue. In addition,
400-837: Was originally focused on communications needs for Christian organizations, but in 1970 it expanded its membership to all religious faiths. The organization is headquartered in the Interchurch Center in New York City and has 13 branches across the U.S. It hosts an annual conference to discuss media strategies and issues. It also presents the Wilbur Awards , an annual tribute to mainstream media's coverage of faith-based issues. The Council has presented Wilbur Awards annually since 1949. They honor excellence by individuals in secular media – print and online journalism, book publishing, broadcasting, and motion pictures – in communicating religious issues, values and themes. Winners receive
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