We are excited to welcome the 2025-2026 ANHD Community Development Graduate Fellowship Cohort!
Each year, ANHD pairs nine graduate students with ANHD member organizations for 10 months to work on an impactful community development project in New York City, offering emerging community development leaders key training and support while building the capacity of our organizations and the movement overall.
Our 14th Fellowship cohort will be working on a range of issues including affordable housing development and preservation, cooperative housing, homeownership, commercial space development, community land trusts, economic development, small business support and organizing, and land use.
Meet our 2025-2026 Fellows
Amara Thompkins
School: Rutgers University
Host: IMPACCT Brooklyn
Amara Thompkins is entering her second year as a Master’s student in City and Regional Planning at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. She focuses on Community Development and Housing, as well as Design and Development/Redevelopment. She is also pursuing a certification in Real Estate Development and Redevelopment. She has worked on research projects focused on flood-risk communication in New Jersey, as well as the transfer of development rights for Grand Central Station. Over the summer, she served as an intern with the Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey through the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey’s Community Scholars Program, where she supported efforts to empower member organizations through resources, innovation, advocacy, and collaboration. Her interests include real estate redevelopment, cultural and historic preservation, and urban green-space design.
Chai Leffler
School: City University of New York: School of Labor & Urban Studies
Host: Urban Homesteading Assistance (U-HAB), Inc.
Chai Leffler is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree at CUNY’s School of Labor and Urban Studies. Coming from Southwest Florida, his work background includes an Internship for Manatee County’s transit operations, co-founding a local transportation alternatives advocacy group, and organizing his community at his alma mater New College of Florida to fight back against academic censorship. While in pursuit of his degree, Chai works as an instructor at an extracurricular STEM program in North Jersey where he lives. Chai believes a strong, well-connected community is key to a city’s resilience. He hopes to continue this work building and organizing urban residents to fight for a better city for everyone. Chai is beyond excited to be a fellow with ANHD and looks forward to this opportunity.
Dakota Billops-Breaux
School: Pratt Institute
Host: Habitat for Humanity NYC
Dakota is pursuing her Master’s of Science in Urban Placemaking and Management at the Pratt Institute. Inspired by the environmental justice movement, her interest in placemaking concerns place based impacts on community health and wellbeing. Her work aims to counteract legacies of harm from urban planning, policing, and gentrification. Dakota was born and raised between Oakland and San Francisco, CA, and received her Bachelor’s in Community Development and Planning from the University of Washington. Her academic pursuits complement her professional background in communications and storytelling for community oriented projects and organizations. During her time with Habitat for Humanity NYC and Westchester County, Dakota hopes to contribute the community engagement tools she has developed in her program to support the rights of New Yorkers to thrive in place.
Hannah Ritner
School: The New School
Host: Carroll Gardens Association
Hannah is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public and Urban Policy at The New School. Her studies focus on community-driven policy interventions to address displacement and gentrification. She is from Tacoma, Washington – and is particularly interested in social housing and cooperative ownership models that might offer a form of land-based, economic justice. While at The New School, she served as a research assistant for Professor Alex Schwartz, assisting with his upcoming book on housing affordability — and volunteered at the Housing Justice Lab, transcribing oral histories from the Nehemiah homes in Brownsville. Prior to going to graduate school, she worked as a barista and research partner for a nonprofit that creates pathways to higher education for incarcerated women. She is honored to work with Carroll Gardens Association to support housing justice in Red Hook!
Jen Hung
School: Pratt Institute
Host: Fifth Ave Committee
Jen is a second year student at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, pursuing a Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Systems and an Advanced Certificate in Historic Preservation. Her studies have informed an interest in examining how financial and policy mechanisms must be leveraged to create climate-resilient housing and equitable economic development for healthy communities. Most recently, her work and research have centered around a just energy transition supportive of environmental and public health through climate policy and comprehensive planning. Formerly, she was a client services director working with nonprofit and social justice-centered organizations on branding and marketing strategy. In her off-hours, Jen is a trained health-supportive chef.
Layla Dozier
School: Hunter College
Host: Good Old Lower East Side, Inc. (GOLES)
Layla is a current Masters of Urban Planning student at Hunter College. Her studies are geared towards racial and social equity through community led initiatives and equitable urban design. Through her experience as a former production assistant in tv and film, creative solutions drive her work. With her partnership with Good Ole Lower East Side she intended to engage the community through creative solutions to help restore and reinvent spaces for the community good.
Sarake Dembele
School: Columbia University GSAPP
Host: Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation
Sarake Dembele is a first-generation Malian American graduate student at Columbia University pursuing a Master’s in Urban Planning. With a background in Architectural Studies and professional experiences at organizations such as Breaking Ground, INHS, PM Engineers, and WSFSSH, she has cultivated a strong commitment to equitable and inclusive community development. In 2023, Sarake received the Projects for Peace Grant, a highlight of her career thus far. She traveled to Mali to launch a gardening initiative with a women’s organization in Gogui, providing land, seeds, and tools to help create a sustainable source of income. While the grant was a milestone, it was her upbringing and professional experiences that prepared her to bring the project to life. Outside of her academic and professional work, Sarake enjoys trying new activities, exploring foods from different cultures, running, and expressing her creativity through fashion, jewelry, and art.
Wayne Chen
School: Columbia University GSAPP
Host: Evergreen Inc.: Your North Brooklyn Business Exchange
Wayne Chen is a second-year Urban Planning student at Columbia GSAPP focused on housing, zoning, and the financial tools that shape how cities grow. Raised across Taiwan, Shanghai, and Northern California, he became interested in development approaches that center community needs and long-term stability. He brings a cross-sector background in design, nonprofit communications, and media, having facilitated convenings and managed public engagement at The Architect’s Newspaper and Van Alen Institute. At Columbia, he has worked on projects involving affordable housing preservation, LIHTC finance, and spatial analysis. Most recently, he collaborated with CLOTH in Washington Heights to develop a policy and financing proposal supporting the long-term affordability of aging housing stock. Wayne is especially interested in how planners can advance community-driven development through clear communication, strategic thinking, and policy tools that align resident needs with market and regulatory realities.
Wayne Mok
School: Pratt Institute
Host: Rise Now Inc.
Wayne Mok is currently pursuing his MS in Urban and Community Planning at Pratt Institute. A native New Yorker, he moved to Boston to earn his undergraduate degree in International Relations. Moving home after his undergraduate degree, Wayne realized during conversations with friends and family that he could make a more meaningful impact in the lives of those around him by focusing on a more local perspective. Since then, he has been working and volunteering at small nonprofit organizations local to New York City such as UA3, Sure We Can and Banana Kelly CIA. These experiences have exposed Wayne to many of the city’s systemic vulnerabilities, and inspire him to help come up with solutions during his fellowship with ANHD and RiseNow.