People living in New York City public and affordable housing deserve to rest, gather, and grow in their communities.

Making Space for Youth is a storytelling and advocacy project developed in collaboration with the Committee for Independent Community Action (CICA), RedHook NeighborhoodSTAT and City Polytechnic High School. Making Space centers the needs and power of youth in public housing’s future in NYC.


From September 2023 through June 2024, as a Forefront Fellow at the Urban Design Forum, I worked with urban designers and community organizers Camillia Brown, Amy Obonaga, Eamon O'Connor, Gina Massari, Janaira Ramirez, and Melody Stein on community-based research and advocacy. We collaborated with longtime organizers at the Committee for Independent Community Action (CICA) who have been fighting to safeguard NYC public housing, building a grassroots movement to oppose the encroaching privatization of public housing. Together, we held public workshops and offered a four-part scaffolded workshop with City Polytechnic High School.

Our report and workshop curriculum, developed with CICA organizers, students at City Polytechnic High School, and subject matter experts, proposes pathways for youth and NYCHA communities to collaborate and advocate for improved quality, communication and accountability in the design, construction, operations and management of public housing.  

The curriculum we developed provides a framework for a growthful, skills-building, 4-part workshop series that brings youth into conversation with organizers about the future of our cities and our neighborhoods. It develops skills in urban planning, urban design, advocacy, and organizing. It also offers one approach to creating community-accountable designs, and developing civically engaged creative projects in public.