The dedication and willingness of NHN’s core members drive our work forward. All central team members public housing residents at one of the five remaining public housing developments in Far Rockaway, Queens. Together we make decisions through deliberation and consensus about the next steps and future shape our collective work will take. Moreover, our goal is also to expand this central group as new tenant leaders emerge through our outreach and endeavor to get more involved.
List of Core Members:
- Shaniqua Bethea, Carleton Manor
- Amber Clickscales, Oceanside Houses
- Kimberly Comes, Redfern Houses
- Keisha Cunningham, Hammel Houses
- Lorrain Evans, Beach 41st Consolidations
- Bernard Gabriel, Beach 41st Consolidations
- Danielette Horton, Hammel Houses
- Marcia Jones, Oceanside Houses
- Shebra Lee, Hammel Houses
- Margareth Massac, Oceanside Houses
- Denise McBride, Oceanside Houses
- Ruth Pressley, Hammels Houses
- Lakisha Ricks, Hammels Houses
- Alisha Robinson, Carleton Manor
- Vernell Robinson, Carleton Manor
- Josephine Rocheburn, Hammels Houses
(in alphabetical order by last name)
Our History
Though our group is newly incorporated in 2023, the history of our coordination dates back to 2019 when many of us were members of Community Voices Heard, and were instrumental in carrying out a research and organizing project around disrepair and health in public housing in the Rockaways. While we handled the extensive outreach and surveying efforts, which we integrated with regular community meetings and other activities, the Regional Plan Association helped contextualize, analyze and write-up our findings as a report titled The Impacts of Living in NYCHA.
In fall of 2021, we met with HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge to discuss the status of the RAD program, which news reports were reflecting on poorly.
In 2022, we undertook another research and organizing effort, this time focused on how our neighbors at Ocean Bay Houses were faring since converting to the RAD/PACT program in 2016. In addition to a report titiled Rockiness in the Rockaway – Five Years of RAD at Ocean Bay, and an educational website titled RadPact.info, we hosted a three-part series of community meetings to discuss the program and our research and findings, amongst ourselves, with NYCHA officials, with other outside technical experts, and other tenants leaders organizing elsewhere in the city. Additionally, we hosted a Resident Town Hall wherein we invited elected officials to hear from community members directly.
In the second half of the 2022, we began putting together our Resident Empowerment Outreach Plan (Re-Op), a game plan to raise the consciousness of our neighbors, increase community connection, power and capacity for civic action through broad and deep outreach and organizing across the five remaining public housing development in Far Rockaway Queens.
Now in 2023, we are newly incorporated and have started to engage the first step of our Re-Op, which includes extensive outreach and surveying of our neighbors and working re-establish the networks we need to best advocate for the needs of our communities. In the second half of 2023, we hosted our first Nguzo Saba Community Education Project and Kwanzaa Celebration. We also began our latest community survey, which seeks to understand how much our neighbors understand about the regulatory changes NYCHA is pursuing for our homes and the impact they will have on our future.
