October 3 | Fight Forward: An Opening Discussion on Community Development

ANHD launched our 12th annual conference event series with an opening conversation with representatives from the ANHD membership and ally organizations on the past and present community development landscape and planned for the next 50 years of community development in New York City.

Speakers included:

• Moderated by: Emily Goldstein, ANHD’s Director of Organizing and Advocacy
• Bernell Grier, Executive Director, IMPACCT Brooklyn, current ANHD Board Chair
• Margaret Groarke, with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) since 1980
• Lydia Tom, a founder and the first Housing Director of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE)

Remarks were given by:

• Marco Villegas

Time: 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM

Location: Live Streamed

October 4 | In Community: on Responsible Banking

Signature Bank’s collapse had major impacts on ANHD member groups who organize tenants in Signature-financed buildings. As a result, our event intentionally included a panel that consisted primarily of tenant leaders and organizers to discuss what bad lending looks like, its impact on tenants living in those buildings, and what are solutions to prevent bad lending and better conditions for tenants. We also had a breakout session where the panelists were in small groups with attendees to reflect on and answer questions about the panel.

Speakers included:

• Moderated by: Jean Henry, Lead Organizer, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation
• Yonatan Tadele, Housing Organizer, Cooper Square Committee
• Adam Blazej, Tenant Leader, Tri-Hill Coalition
• Jacob Udell, Director of Research and Data, University Neighborhood Housing Program Inc.
• Rolando Guzman, Deputy Director, Community Preservation at St. Nicks Alliance
• Organizing member from the Full Time Tenant Union

Remarks were given by:

• Assemblymember Khaleel M. Anderson
• Beverly Meek, First Vice President, CRA Director, Flagstar Bank
• Shawn Khani, Deputy Director, Division of Resolutions & Receiverships, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Will Depoo, ANHD’s Senior Campaign Organizer

Time: 6:15 PM – 9:00 PM

Location: University Settlement, 184 Eldridge Street, New York, NY

October 10 | In Community: on Small Business

Small businesses play an important role in local wealth-building, and contribute to the social fabric and cultural identity of the neighborhood. The redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx – a project that recalls similar large-scale economic development projects like the Barclays Center – can either be an opportunity for collective ownership and community wealth in the Bronx, or a threat to the existing fabric of the neighborhood. Merchant organizing efforts, led by the Kingsbridge Road Merchants Association and the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, are focused on ways to bring local small businesses into the fight against that potential threat and make sure the project benefits existing neighborhood businesses and residents. For our third event in our Fight Forward conference series, we toured several small businesses along the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx to learn about the community and collective ownership and community wealth-building ideas during this proposed redevelopment process.

Speakers included:

• Juan Nuñez, Lead Armory Organizer, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition
• Edward Garcia, Organizing Co-Director, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition
• Balanda Joachim, ANHD’s Campaign Organizer
• Small business owners from the surrounding Kingsbridge/Armory commercial corridor

Remarks were given by:

• Kevin D. Kim, Commissioner, NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS)
• John Olson, CRA Officer, Goldman Sachs Bank USA

Time: 10:30 AM – 2:00 PM

Location: Kingsbridge Road, Bronx

October 12 | In Community: on Housing

The topics of housing, homelessness, and criminalization are intertwined and, in many ways, inseparable, but they often get treated as separate issues and siloed movements. This panel brought together leaders who have lived experiences with housing insecurity, homelessness, and criminalization. We explored the connections between these issues and how we can bridge our work across them as a unified movement for racial and housing justice.

Speakers included:

• Moderated by: New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams
• Tracie Adams, Positive Leaders Union Leader, VOCAL-NY
• Marcus Moore, Member, Picture the Homeless
• Robert Ehrenberg, Queens Community Leader, Release Aging People in Prison

Remarks were given by:

• Bea de la Torre, Chief Philanthropy Officer at Trinity Church Wall Street

The program featured:

• A performance by cellist Jacob Cohen
• A private viewing of Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, an exhibition exploring the impact of the US prison system on contemporary visual art​

Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Location: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY

October 18 | In Community: on Public Space

GrowHouse Community Design + Development Group, in collaboration with Creative Urban Alchemy, are developing creative activations around the Flatbush African Burial Ground. They are supporting a community engagement process to establish a long-term vision for the space. For our fifth event, we walked and learned about the visioning for this site and the broader work to develop a Black history corridor connecting areas of resistance and connection in Central Brooklyn. This project is one of five public space activation projects being supported by ANHD and the Urban Design Forum, supporting public space cultivation and the opportunity for communities to shape their own future.

Speakers included:

• Leaders from GrowHouse Community Design
• A Representative from the Urban Design Forum

Time: 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM

Location: Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY

October 24 | In Community: on Land Use

The industrial sector plays a crucial role in New York City’s economy. Yet today, it is constantly threatened by speculation and competition for its limited amount of land. During our sixth event, we saw firsthand the importance of the industrial economy and its vital role in ensuring a more equitable New York. We embarked on a bus tour of the North Brooklyn and Maspeth IBZs and heard from business owners, advocates, and allies about the crucial and exciting work we’re doing to put industrial business zones on a firmer footing and ensure NYC’s industrial sector can survive and grow.

Speakers included:

• Jeff Anschlowar, President, Maspeth Welding
• Tod Greenfield, Vice President, Martin Greenfield Clothiers
• Ryder Washburn, Vice President, The Specialists LTD
• Wyatt Nash & Rene Gortat of Leerform Inc.

Tour guides included:

• Leah Archibald, Executive Director, Evergreen
• Natalie Vichnevsky, Entrepreneurship Services Manager, Evergreen
• Quincy Ely-Cate, Director of Industrial Business Development, Business Outreach Center
• ANHD’s Senior Campaign Organizer Christopher Casey and Senior Land Use Policy Associate Chris Walters

Remarks were given by:

• Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso
• Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez

Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Location: Various locations in Maspeth and North Brooklyn

October 26 | Fight Forward: Finale Event

ANHD staff, members, and allies came together to reflect on our in-community events from October and close out our 2023 conference series. This event focused on advancing racial equity in our work, including our practices, decision-making, and resource allocation. Over 150 affordable housing and equitable economic development practitioners and stakeholders were in the room for our special fireside conversation, to network, and more.

Speakers included:

• Keynote by: Andre M. Perry, Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro, scholar-in-residence at American University, Professor of Practice of Economics at Washington University
• Kellie Terry, Philanthropy Programs Director, North Star Fund
• ANHD’s Executive Director Barika Williams

Remarks were given by:

• ANHD Board Members Bernell Grier of IMPACCT Brooklyn & Scott Short of RiseBoro Community Partnership
• Barlow Flores, Senior Vice President, Community Relations Northeast Leader, Citi

Time: 4:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Location: The Theater at City Tech, CUNY, 285 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY