Hester Street

07/01/2024

06/07/2024

Calling all District 31 residents🎙️…did you catch us in your local newspaper this week + ? Thanks to funding from Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers, Hester Street is working on a needs assessment that will identify and highlight the community’s priorities across land use, housing, open space, education, and transportation.

If you’re a D31 resident, small business owner, or part of a neighborhood organization or institution, we want to hear from you.

Join HST at our public workshop and share your ideas on Saturday, June 15th at Arverne East Nature Preserve from 3-6pm! We’ll be hosting activities for all ages with prizes for select winners, and there’ll be plenty of free food. To register, visit bit.ly/d31workshop or scan the QR code above.

05/29/2024

Happy ! As we honor AAPI heritage, we’re excited to share highlights from , one of our Radical Imagination for Racial Justice (RIRJ) grantees working to advance racial and environmental justice in Queens through the lens of arts and culture. HST is proud to partner on RIRJ, a national regranting initiative generously supported by .

The team is currently visiting - an Island in the Philippines - to explore the flow of secondhand clothing and textiles to the Philippine islands and the climate justice implications of the secondhand economy (ukay-ukay) for the Filipinx diaspora. While visiting , the team interviewed community partners from local organizations and workers, customers and business owners to learn about their relationship to the clothes they buy and keep, their thoughts on the secondhand economy, and its impact on their lives. The team will bring their findings back to NYC to inform a June 29 ukay-ukay event in Queens.

Read more about their work and this year’s cohort at the link in our bio. Stay tuned for our next update featuring !

05/28/2024

This Thursday, May 30th, Hester Street’s own Kristen Chin, Director of Community Economic Development, will serve as a guest panelist for “AAPI in Planning: Addressing Part Harms”. Led by staff at NYC Dept of City Planning for Racial Equity (DCPRE), this initiative seeks to reduce and ultimately eliminate racial inequity within the agency and our City through DCP’s planning practices.

As we honor , Hester Street is committed to working with government agencies, community-based organizations and leaders, and residents themselves to imagine a racially just and vibrant New York City. Many thanks to Kristen for being part of this important work!

04/29/2024

Thanks to funding from Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers, Hester Street is working to create a District 31 needs assessment that will identify and highlight the community’s priorities across land use, housing, open space, education, and transportation.

If you’re a D31 resident, small business owner, or part of a key organization or neighborhood institution, we want to hear from you!

Take our digital survey (now available in Spanish and Haitian Creole) by Fri, May 31 at bit.ly/d31survey. Don’t forget to share it with your friends, family, and neighbors!

04/12/2024

HST is excited to announce that Council Member has launched the District 35 Land Use Framework: an inaugural framework meant to guide future land use and development in the district, rooted in the community’s vision.

Last spring, we led the community engagement process and production of this framework, collecting input from over 1200 community members on their priorities for development and land use throughout the district to ensure that new development proposed through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) addresses community needs.

With this framework, District 35 takes a remarkable step toward community-based, equitable land use planning. In the words of our ED, Eva Neubauer Alligood, “The launch of this development framework is a significant moment in New York City’s urban planning history, as it represents the first time a Council Member commits to proactively and methodically incorporating data and priorities of her constituents into land use decision making.”

Thank you to and Council Speaker for funding this important initiative, and to all the residents who participated in helping shape the community’s approach to land use planning. We look forward to seeing how this framework guides development throughout District 35 and steers tangible benefits directly to the community. The full framework and checklist can be found at the link in our bio!

04/01/2024

Funded by Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers, Hester Street is developing a District 31 needs assessment to confirm and highlight community needs and priorities on a variety of issues: land use, housing, open space, education, and transportation. We want to hear from key organizations, neighborhood institutions, small business owners, and residents.

How do your communities want to inform local decision-making? Take the digital survey by May 31 at bit.ly/d31survey then share it with your friends, family, and neighbors.

02/27/2024

As we honor and celebrate , we lift up the conversation from the July 2023 panel that , , and held on the “Future of our Field”. Our panelists shared their thoughts on the importance of early career exposure for Black students and youth and increasing authentic representation. Quardean Lewis-Allen () recalled an impactful quote from author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: “Show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.”

We’re reminded of the significance of creating pathways for success and mentoring Black youth with a passion for design, uplifting Black professionals across each field, and directly engaging Black residents as leaders and architects with the expertise to shape our neighborhoods and cities.

Hester Street is committed to advancing equitable urban policy and engaging communities that have historically been excluded from planning in order to build community power. We look forward to continuing to support New Yorkers in imagining a radically just future. To view the Future of our Field conversation, click the link in our bio. Happy Black History Month!

12/08/2023

As part of our Radical Imagination for Racial Justice (RIRJ) Initiative with the Surdna Foundation, HST is excited to announce that we are providing funding and technical assistance to Centro para la Reconstrucción del Hábitat (CRH) to work in the Piñones community in the municipality of Loíza in Puerto Rico to address vacant properties in flood-prone zones that cannot be safely converted into housing. Through a community placemaking plan and a participatory code enforcement program, CRH will involve residents in transforming these spaces into community assets to increase housing, environmental, and cultural resiliency.

To learn more about the work of our grantees and past cohorts, visit the RIRJ website through the link in our bio.

08/21/2023

Hester Street is a Project Associate! Join our collaborative team to support community engagement, community planning, and participatory design across a range of projects dedicated to ensuring that neighborhoods are shaped by the people who live in them.

This is an exciting opportunity for an early career design or planning professional committed to racial and social justice and seeking opportunities for professional growth. Applications will be accepted through September 8. Apply online at the link in our bio.

07/27/2023

Huge thanks to our moderator Jerrod Delaine of Legacy Real Estate and panelists Leslie Finnie of , Quardean Lewis-Allen of , and Tiffany-Ann Taylor of for a rich and timely conversation on the importance of supporting Black leaders in architecture, planning, and design. We were inspired by all that was shared, and we look forward to continuing the conversation as we deepen our commitment to uplifting Black leadership. If you missed the live event, stay tuned for a link to the live-streamed webinar.

07/17/2023

On Wednesday, July 26, we’re proud to be co-presenting alongside and an interactive panel highlighting and celebrating the work that Black professionals are doing to advance racial equity in the fields of architecture, planning, and design – rooting out the racist logics that have underpinned so much harm and transforming their professions in the process.

Join leaders from , and for this crucial conversation. Following the panel discussion, attendees will be invited to participate in an interactive reception, with opportunities to meet and engage with the featured panelists and other leaders in these fields. RSVP at the link in our bio to join us on July 26!