Overview
ANHD’s Fight Forward 2025 event series will provide four in-person spaces to have timely, thought-provoking conversations related to housing, community organizing, and small business, connect with others in the movement, and celebrate our collective power and resilience.
5/28 In Community: Navigating NYC’s Housing Crossroads
New York City’s housing landscape is at a critical juncture. From development to preservation, local actors are working to ensure that low-income New Yorkers have safe, stable, and affordable homes in their communities—despite growing challenges.
Join us for an in-person discussion on the current state of housing in NYC. You will hear from Vincent Reina, a professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Founder and Faculty Director of the Housing Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania with a long history in housing work. Together, we’ll explore the local dynamics shaping our neighborhoods, the barriers community groups and housing developers face, and the opportunities to strengthen housing justice efforts on the ground.
This timely event will surface pressing issues and potential solutions in housing policy, development, and organizing—centering strategies that prioritize equity and community stability. Whether you’re a policymaker, advocate, or practitioner, this is a space to connect, learn, and build power together.
Event Details
CUNY Graduate Center
Kelly Skylight Room, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016
Wednesday May 28
8:30 – 11:00am
Breakfast will be provided.
Speaker: Vincent Reina
Professor and Founder and Faculty Director of the Housing Initiative, University of Pennsylvania
Vincent Reina is a professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment as Professor of Real Estate in the Wharton School of Business. Reina is the Founder and Faculty Director of the Housing Initiative at Penn and is currently a Stoneleigh Foundation Fellow and Editor in Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Housing Policy Debate. His research focuses on urban economics, housing policy, and community and economic development, and has been published in various peer-reviewed journals. This work has been recognized with several awards, including article of the year by the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Association of Public Policy and Management’s Best Dissertation Award. He was also given the Rising Scholar Award by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.
In 2022-2024 Reina served as the Senior Advisor for Housing and Urban Policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he worked to address the nation’s housing affordability and supply challenges, affirmatively further fair housing, increase access to homeownership, and advance equitable development and community investment.
Reina was also previously a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, a Lincoln Institute for Land Policy Scholar, a Coro fellow, and worked at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
7/1 In Community: 15 Years of Building Organizer Power
Join ANHD to celebrate 15 years of empowering grassroots leaders and building community power across New York City!
Since 2009, our Center for Community Leadership (CCL) has trained and supported over 300 organizers to tackle the city’s most pressing issues, neighborhood by neighborhood.
On July 1st, we will honor the achievements of this year’s Center for Community Leadership graduates, reflect on CCL’s impact, and recognize the continued solidarity that fuels our movement.
Come enjoy remarks from visionary leaders, food, drink, a rooftop space to gather with CCL alumni and other NYC organizers, a photobooth, and more.
Event Details
Tuesday, July 1
3:30-7:30pm
Manny Cantor Center
197 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002
Registration coming soon!
Small Business Event
Mid-September – date to come
Bronx Music Hall
438 E 163rd St, Bronx, NY 10451
More details to come!
Finale Event
Early October – date to come
BRIC
647 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
More details to come!
Logistics
General
Individual tickets are available via Eventbrite, and group and sponsor packages are managed by connecting with Lauren Nye (lauren.n@anhd.org).
In-person COVID Protocols
In-person attendees are asked to be fully vaccinated and comply with all New York City and New York State guidelines at the time of the event. We support masks to protect vulnerable populations and will have masks on hand at all events. ANHD will also have hand sanitizer available.
Accessibility
All conference event spaces are fully accessible by wheelchair and are ADA compliant. If you have any questions or accommodation or service requests to fully participate with us, please contact Director of Operations Lauren Nye at lauren.n@anhd.org at least 15 days prior to the event.
Social Media and Hashtag
The official hashtag of this ANHD event series is #BuildCommunityPower.
Follow ANHD on Instagram and LinkedIn @ANHDnyc for up-to-date info and recaps!
Consultants, Vendors & Partners
CUNY Grad Center
Manny Cantor Center
Black Heart AV
Luce Productions
Neighborly Events
NY Printing & Graphics
Rodriguez Valle Creative
Sponsors
