Janice McGuire, executive director of the Hudson Guild for the past 19 years, has announced her retirement from Chelsea’s historic settlement house effective in the spring.
She will remain as director until the Guild board of trustees finds a successor, said Arthur H. Aufses III, a board member, in a Nov. 21 statement.
“Janice has been an extraordinary leader. With her energy and vision she revitalized the Guild, which now serves 11,000 people a year of all ages and backgrounds, giving it an even stronger presence in Chelsea,” Aufses said.
McGuire turns over the directorship of the Guild a year after reconstruction of the John Lovejoy Elliott Center on W. 26th St. between Ninth and 10th Aves. was completed and after the launching two years ago of the Guild’s “Community Works!” capital campaign.
“I think this is the right time to turn over the reins to new leadership,” she said last week. “Having completed the renovation of the Elliott Center, I plan to focus much of my remaining time at the Guild to conclude our $12 million capital campaign, which ends in March,” she added.
Before taking the leadership of the Guild in 1987, McGuire was director of Westside Cluster, a coalition of residences for homeless women on the West Side. Under her leadership, the Guild has pursued its longstanding commitment to affordable housing and helped organize the effort to see affordable housing included in the recent rezoning of West Chelsea.
Since McGuire became executive director of the Guild in 1987, the settlement house has broadened its community-building programs as well as its direct services, which include meals for seniors, a community mental health center, day care and Head Start programs and after-school and teen programs.
“I believe the Guild will be in a great position to begin a new era,” McGuire said, adding, “We have a tremendous staff and we serve a fascinating community — what a great experience this has been for me.”
