Hester Street (HST) worked with Enterprise Community Partners to develop the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Curriculum, an educational resource for public housing residents, tenant leaders and advocates who want to help others understand and prepare for RAD conversion. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) plans to convert as many as 15,000 units of public housing through the RAD program over the next decade – shifting ownership to a public-private partnership to access new sources of financing and provide comprehensive repairs. The curriculum aims to equip residents with the information and tools they need to become knowledgeable participants in the conversion process, as well as provides organizing resources for residents and advocates.
HST conducted research and stakeholder interviews to develop the curriculum and led several focus groups to gather input from the NYC RAD Roundtable on Residents Rights and Protections. The curriculum includes lesson plans, handouts, presentations and exercises that can be adapted to the needs of different NYC communities. In January 2018 the curriculum was adopted by the CUNY Resident Leadership Academy, a program for NYCHA residents to strengthen their skills and knowledge of public housing, resident leadership, and community organizing.
The full toolkit of materials is available to download here.