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.
On May 28th, we held an in-person discussion on the current state of housing in NYC. We heard 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 explored 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 surfaced pressing issues and potential solutions in housing policy, development, and organizing—centering strategies that prioritize equity and community stability, and allowed policymakers, advocates, and practitioners 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 was 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.
From 3:45-6pm, we will celebrate the graduation of the current cohort and CCL’s 15th year with remarks from visionary leaders. Then from 6:00-7:30pm, we’ll hold a reception with food, drink, a rooftop space to gather with CCL alumni and other NYC organizers, a photobooth, and more!
Event Details
Tuesday, July 1
3:45-7:30pm
Manny Cantor Center
197 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002
Get your ticket here
Speakers
Ericka Stallings
Co-Executive Director, Leadership Learning Community
As Ericka has shared, “My personal and professional journey has led me to seek freedom through collaboration, solidarity, and collective action.” Ericka is a core part of CCL’s history and development, having directed the program for over a decade as ANHD’s Deputy Director for Capacity Building and Strategic Initiatives. With love and a commitment to clarity and rigor, she shaped and stewarded the program while teaching, supporting, and amplifying the work of organizers throughout NYC.
Ericka is now the Co-Executive Director at Leadership Learning Community, creating spaces for innovations, practices, and systems that are grounded in collective liberation, centering leaders of color and those from historically excluded communities. Soon, she will be joining the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation as its Senior Director, serving in a grantmaking role and supporting the cultivation of their Exploring Leadership program.
Brandon Kielbasa
Director of Organizing and Policy, Cooper Square Committee
Brandon Kielbasa is a Tenant Organizer and Housing Advocate with a broad range of experience in community organizing and one-on-one casework. He works for the Cooper Square Committee in New York City’s Lower East Side as the Director of Organizing and Policy. Brandon has been with CSC for 18 years. He started as a Housing Specialist, doing tenant counseling and organizing. He has now been Organizing Director for 10 years as CSC has increased its commitment to community organizing, creating a 6 person organizing team.
Brandon was part of the organizing leadership which spearheaded a city-wide campaign, Stand for Tenant Safety, in partnership with several other housing groups, to create 13 new laws to improve the effectiveness of the NYC Dept. of Buildings in responding to health and safety issues at occupied buildings undergoing renovations. He has a BA in English and Psychology from Hunter College and is also currently a graduate student at the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy pursuing a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Community Health.
Brandon sees himself as a social change practitioner and practices community organizing because he believes that it is essential for individuals and communities to be engaged in solving their own problems and for them to gain strength and knowledge by doing so.
Small Business Event
Mid-September – date to come
Bronx Music Hall
438 E 163rd St, Bronx, NY 10451
More details to come!
Finale Event
Wednesday, October 8
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!
Sponsors
