Community Control: Development to Combat Displacement with Hester Street Collaborative, Make the Road NY and VOCAL-NY

11:15AM, Room 015

Communities of color and low-income communities have historically been excluded from policies and practices that shape the built environment and are disproportionately impacted by inadequate infrastructure and access to opportunity. Decades of housing segregation, development and disinvestment impact where individuals live and what community assets and services they have access to. Grassroots organizations have long mobilized people and resources to fill these gaps, but rapid neighborhood change makes these critical community organizations as vulnerable to displacement as their constituents.
This session will explore ownership as an anti-displacement strategy for community- based organizations in gentrifying low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Panelists will present 2 NYC community facility projects that strengthen key neighborhood institutions and expand programs and services to NYC’s most vulnerable. Hester Street will frame the discussion about people-driven development and each panelist will present their organization’s project in the context of urgent neighborhood issues of affordability, accessibility and belonging.