To mark the close of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Bowen Center will launch a unique local take on the Ice Bucket Challenge campaign called “Bowen’s Freeze for Mental Health” aimed at raising awareness and funds for its mental health and addiction treatment services.

Please feel free to use one of these “Bowen Facts” in your Challenge video — or share your own story!

• The Bowen Center provides mental health, addiction treatment, and supportive services to more than 5,000 individuals and families each year across Harlem, Upper Manhattan, and beyond.
• Our Food Pantry distributes over 88,000 packages of food annually to families experiencing financial hardship across Harlem and Upper Manhattan.
• As one of the largest community-based mental health centers in Harlem, The Bowen Center’s mission is to help individuals and families navigate the “problems of living” through compassionate, comprehensive care.
• The Bowen Center’s team includes multilingual, culturally competent professionals: psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, social workers, addiction counselors, case managers, vocational rehab specialists, and early childhood educators.
• The Bowen Center’s Rainbow Clubhouse is a psychosocial program that fosters peer support, employment training, and social connection for adults living with serious mental illness.
• The Bowen Center’s Addiction Treatment Services (ATS) program offers a holistic approach to recovery, with individual, group, and family counseling, plus peer support.
• The Bowen Center’s Therapeutic Preschool is one of the few NYC programs primarily serving Black and Latino preschoolers with mental health needs, autism, developmental delays, and emotional trauma.
• No one is turned away — the Bowen Center offer services on a sliding fee scale, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.
• The Bowen Center is a proud and visible supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and equality.
• The Bowen Center’s ABLE House provides transitional housing and recovery support for men returning from the criminal justice system.
• The Bowen Center’s Care Management program helps to improve quality of life of their clients by addressing mental health, medical needs, substance use, and other social determinants of health — reducing unnecessary ER visits and hospitalizations.
• The Bowen Center’s Behavioral Outpatient Program serves individuals and families of all ages seeking mental health support.
• The Bowen Center’s School-Based Program delivers therapeutic services to students ages 4 to 19 in a safe and supportive environment. It currently operates in four NYC public schools, with plans to expand to six by the end of 2025.
• The Bowen Center lives by the motto: “Mental Health is Health.” Every person deserves access to healing, dignity, and hope.

Larry Scott Blackmon is an extremely active and influential member of the community. Professionally, Larry (or LSB as he is also known) is CEO of The Blackmon Organization, a full service government affairs, public relations, consulting, and entertainment services firm. Larry represents clients who wish to know New York City’s influencers, power brokers, and community leaders.

Prior to starting his firm, Larry served as Vice President of Public Affairs at FreshDirect, the leading e-commerce grocer in the Northeast. At FreshDirect, Larry leads the division, expanding current partnerships, cultivating new relationships, managing government affairs, running FreshDirect’s Corporate Social Responsibility program and serving as a key company spokesperson.

Larry has over 20 years of public service, community development, and government experience. He joined FreshDirect from the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation where he served as Deputy Commissioner for Community Outreach.

Larry is a former candidate for New York City Council and has worked with a number of New York City’s elected officials, serving in the administrations of former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He has also worked with many federal and state representatives, serving on the staffs of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 2000 Senate campaign.

Larry served as Senior Manager of Public Affairs for the New York Jets of the National Football League where he was instrumental in developing a landmark M/WBE agreement for the New York Sports and Convention Center (NYSCC). While the NYSCC was not developed, the M/WBE agreement served as a blueprint for many other development projects.

Larry earned a B.A. in Communications and Black Studies from the State University of New York College at New Paltz. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Metropolitan College of New York, and is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School’s Executive Leadership program at Harvard University. Additionally, Larry is a graduate of the Northwestern University’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion instruction program.  Larry is an alum of the Coro Leadership New York program and a member of the Pi Alpha Alpha National Honor Society. Larry is former president of the New York State Association of Parliamentarians, and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, the first Black Greek Letter Organization established in the United States, and is the Fraternity’s current Alumni Brother of the Year.

For the years 2016 – 2022, Larry was recognized as one of the 50 most powerful community leaders in The Bronx, and as one of the “Black 100” the 100 influential African American leaders in the State.   Larry was named as of the “40 under 40” people to watch in both the Network Journal and City and State publications.

In 2018, Larry and twenty five other men of color jointly co-authored the “Suited for Success” book, a guide for achieving personal success. He is a board member of 100 Black Men of New York, and is a Past Master of Joppa Lodge #55, Prince Hall Masons of the State of New York. Larry was a substitute adjunct professor for former New York City Mayor David Dinkins. Larry also served Metropolitan College of New York as an adjunct professor teaching Intergovernmental Relations, Non-Profit Management and Marketing, Collaborative Leadership and Introduction to Public Administration classes. A cancer survivor, Larry has been featured as part of the NFL’s “Crucial Catch” campaign, and works as an advocate to encourage screening and early detection for Prostate Cancer.

The Bowen Center extends its heartfelt thanks to Mr. Blackmon not only for leading this campaign on behalf of our organization and clients, but for his unwavering dedication to uplifting our community. His leadership, advocacy, and ongoing support mean more than words can express — and we are deeply grateful for all he does to advance our mission and inspire others to act.

Submit your Freeze challenge video to be featured here! (click here for directions)

About the Bowen Center

Based in Harlem, the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center provides mental health and addiction treatment as well as providing advocacy and connections to needed services such as physicians, nutrition, entitlements and benefits, food stamps, legal services, and supportive services to more than 5,000 clients annually to Harlem / Upper Manhattan residents and individuals/families from all five boroughs.

Established more than three decades to help combat the stigma of mental health illness in the Harlem community, by ensuring that the community had a local resource where they would feel comfortable, the Bowen Center has become a beacon for all those in need, but especially the city’s most vulnerable, many of whom are low-income individuals living below the poverty line.

Bowen’s broad array of programs and services allows this important nonprofit to work with individuals of all ages—from infants to senior citizens, both in-person and through telehealth, as appropriate, in accordance with a client’s needs and preferences. www.bowencsc.org

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