Terms Used In New York Laws > Social Services > Article 10-B - Statewide Settlement House Program

• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Settlement house: means an independent, voluntary, not-for-profit organization demonstrating affiliation with the New York state association for settlement houses and neighborhood centers engaged in community work and social services delivery in a defined neighborhood in a municipality of the state of New York which provides comprehensive, coordinated, family-focused multi-generational human services such as child care, employment training, housing assistance counseling, youth development, educational services, senior services and arts and cultural activities, based on the needs of the neighborhood or neighborhoods served and which:
  
  (a) has been incorporated for at least three years;
  
  (b) is qualified as a tax-exempt organization pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code;
  
  (c) provides services to all those who live in the neighborhood or neighborhoods served without regard to race, creed, religious practice, color, sex, age, national origin, economic status, disability, or affectional preference;
  
  (d) has an independent, autonomous board of directors which meets at regular intervals, has full authority over the policies and operations of the organization, and the membership of which includes community residents;
  
  (e) employs appropriate staff including a position of chief executive officer;
  
  (f) has a budget which is adopted on an annual basis by the board of directors, utilizes an accepted accounting system, and has prepared an annual fiscal audit by a certified public accountant not connected with the organization; and
  
  (g) can demonstrate that one of its primary purposes is the improvement of the relationships among groups of different cultural, economic, religious, and social groups in the community through a variety of individual, group, and inter-group activities. See N.Y. Social Services Law 482-B