Welcome to the 2019-2020 Morgan Stanley Community Development Graduate Fellows

The Morgan Stanley Community Development Graduate Fellowship program is a 10-month paid, part-time fellowship for graduate students interested in the community development movement. Selected fellows are matched with an ANHD-member, neighborhood-based community development corporation as the host organization and take on a high-impact project in the fields of affordable housing, economic development, or community planning.

Projects are chosen based on their impact, achievability and suitability, the learning experiences provided to the fellows, evidence of the importance of the project to the host organization, and the strength of the host organization. Each host organization plays a significant role in the fellow selection process.

ANHD welcomes 9 fellows this year to the 2019-2020 Fellowship Program with projects that range from affordable housing finance, small business services outreach, social services delivery, to property management and construction management. Outside of their fellowships, Fellows will have the opportunity to attend networking events, roundtables, and ANHD’s regularly scheduled educational courses and conferences. All 9 fellows are working towards their graduate degrees in urban planning.

Maya Ephrem

School: Columbia University 

Host Organization: Community League of the Heights (CLOTH)

Maya is excited to be working with Community League of the Heights in Washington Heights this year, where she looks forward to contributing to the community engagement process for the NYCHA PACT Renaissance Collaborative. Maya is eager to deepen her knowledge of affordable housing, real estate, and community development work in New York City. 

Daphna Ezrachi

School: NYU Wagner

Host Organization: West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing (WSFSSH)

Daphna is really excited to get direct experience developing affordable and supportive housing in New York City. Specifically, she is looking forward to going deep into the weeds and understanding the technical and financial aspects of development. 

Vicky Garvey

School: Hunter College (CUNY)

Host Organization: RiseBoro Community Partnership

Vicky is looking forward to learning more about large-scale, affordable housing development at Riseboro. She is very excited to be involved with a project that incorporates housing, transportation and public health at a bird’s eye planning level. Her experience has mostly dealt with transportation policy and land use while interning for the Queens Borough President’s Office and Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

Elizabeth Horen 

School: Pratt Institute 

Host Organization: Business Outreach Center (BOC) Network

Elizabeth has spent her early career working on issues of housing and homelessness. She looks forward to working on these issues from a new perspective as the 2019-2020 Morgan Stanley Fellow at the BOC Network. She believes that job security and a livable wage are essential pieces of the puzzle to achieve financial and housing stability for individuals and families, and she is excited to join the BOC Network in their mission to connect under-served communities to sustainable, good paying jobs and empower people to become entrepreneurs.

Aishwarya Kulkarni

School: Pratt Institute 

Host Organization: Chhaya CDC

After completing her Bachelors in Architecture from Sir J.J.College of Architecture in India, Aishwarya is currently enrolled in the graduate program of City and Regional Planning at Pratt Institute. As an architect, Aishwarya has worked on projects that focus on real estate development, transportation planning, and large-scale residential and commercial design projects. Her goal is to combine planning with her design and analytical skills to create a physical, social and economic environment that brings equity, access, and enhancement to the quality of life of communities of various scales. Aishwarya looks forward to working with Chhaya CDC while addressing large social issues and exploring new ways of community engagement and participation.

Michael Nicholas

School: Hunter College (CUNY)

Host Organization: Banana Kelly CIA

Michael is looking forward to being the fellow at Banana Kelly CIA this upcoming year and learning more about the South Bronx and affordable housing development. Michael is in his last year of the Master of Urban Planning program at Hunter College with a concentration in housing and the built environment.

Manning Qiao

School: Rutgers University

Host Organization: Asian Americans for Equality, Inc. (AAFE)

Manning is excited to work with Asian Americans for Equality to deepen her understanding of affordable housing, property management, social service delivery, and equitable growth in immigrant neighborhoods in New York. She looks forward to working with professionals to develop strategies to better support the wellness of the multigenerational community in One Flushing.

Marc Sapeg

School: NYU Wagner 

Host Organization: Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation

Marc is thrilled to begin his fellowship at Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation. For the past three years, Marc has extensively studied the intersection of affordable housing development and green space implementation in New York City. At Cypress Hills LDC, Marc will gain proficiency in asset acquisition and management, allowing him to begin working on his career goal of standardizing equitable community development.

Mikeala Sparks

School: NYU Wagner

Host Organization: Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB)

As an international development planner, Mikeala is most excited about working with UHAB because of their programming that focuses on community development, empowerment, and long-term solutions. With a new lens of New York City, Mikeala is looking forward to learning more about UHAB's equity and resident control mission and how housing has changed for New Yorkers since their foundation.