October 21, 2019
Happy Autumn! Hester Street has been working hard all summer to double down on our commitment to racial equity, neighborhood justice and community power. Some highlights include:
- Hester Street received City Council funding for Census 2020 to ensure that ALL New Yorkers will be counted. This is one of our most important efforts going into 2020 to further place-based justice, civic engagement and community power in this decisive election year and for decades to come.
- We published The Power and Proximity of Code Enforcement, outlining strategies for equitable code enforcement that promote fair and inclusive practices.
- The Where We Live NYC Summit previewed proposed fair housing policies built on the engagement we conducted over the past year. NYC Deputy Mayor Vicki Been, Maya Wiley of MSNBC and Colvin Grannum of Bed-Stuy Restoration Corporation hosted a panel discussion on the state of fair housing in NYC today, pinpointing solutions for housing protections and increased accountability from landlords, brokers and lenders.
- We successfully secured over $12 million in City Capital grant funding for our CBO partners for the acquisition and construction of new community-owned spaces and facilities across the city.
- And... we welcomed 4 new additions to the Hester Street team! Check out the brilliance of Barbara Prevatt, Vanessa Monique Smith, Briana Peppers and Devan Cronshaw.
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Community Ownership in the South Bronx
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From the Young Lords’ takeover of the Lincoln Hospital in the 1960s to today’s battle against the Sheridan Expressway, South Bronx residents have long fought for their community. Activists have challenged decades of segregation and disinvestment with community-powered initiatives that advance local ownership and self-determination. Hester Street is working to support groups across the neighborhood to strengthen community assets and control.
In collaboration with South Bronx Unite, we are embarking on the transformation of the historic Lincoln Detox Center in Mott Haven into a community-driven health and arts center. The H.E.ARTs Center will provide affordable space for a number of Bronx-based organizations and anchor the Mott Haven-Port Morris community land trust. We’re building on extensive community engagement and brilliant preliminary design to make this community-owned and operated center a reality.
We’re also conducting a community-driven planning study to explore opportunities for residential and mixed-used development on brownfield sites in the Melrose neighborhood alongside Nos Quedamos/We Stay. Findings will inform future community-centric development for the South Bronx Land and Community Resource Trust, an effort of 5 South Bronx CBOs to promote resiliency and long-term affordability. This work builds on brownfield studies Hester Street completed in Edgemere and Flushing, Queens in 2018.
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Black Entrepreneurship in NYC
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More than 20% of New Yorkers are black, but only 2% of NYC business owners are black. Hester Street is working with the NYC Department of Small Business Services to advance Black Entrepreneurs NYC (BE NYC) – the first initiative of its kind in a major U.S. city – aimed at ensuring that Black-owned businesses have the conditions, support and networks they need to grow and thrive. We’re working with black students, business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs to identify challenges and develop and implement transformative solutions for black entrepreneurship, businesses and wealth.
In September, we launched BE NYC at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, selling out tickets within 48 hours and bringing hundreds of community members, entrepreneurs, students and stakeholders to participate in the excitement. We’re eager to listen, learn, analyze and act on this vital roadmap for Black entrepreneurship alongside SBS and partners in the coming months.
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To find our team and learn more about our work, be sure to visit our website here!
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Hester Street is an urban planning, design and community development nonprofit working so that neighborhoods are shaped by their people.
113 Hester Street, New York, NY 10002
Copyright © 2019, Hester Street, All rights reserved.
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