The 92nd Street Y operates in the context of a history that spans over 130 years. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association where Jewish men could find harmony and good fellowship, the 92nd Street Y today has evolved into a world-renowned community and cultural center. It is an organization of exhilarating vitality and remarkable diversity. While proudly Jewish, the Y is an institution that reaches out to people of every race, ethnicity, religion, age and economic class.

At once a lecture hall, a performance space, a school, a health center and a community organization, the Y remains focused on its mission of enriching the lives of the people who pass through its doors - women and men, young families and senior citizens, accomplished artists and aspiring beginners, master instructors and enthusiastic students, world leaders and concerned citizens.