Power After the Pandemic
Overview
The growing movement for Black Lives Matter and the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the deep structural inequalities among our cities. As New York City began to reopen, US cities still struggled to manage the virus, while government leaders failed to provide lasting relief to the hardest hit. The uneven distribution of healthy housing, good jobs, and access to healthcare drove mortality, amplified risk of displacement, and magnified economic precarity in low-income, BIPOC communities.
As we planned for lasting consequences, the Power After the Pandemic series pushed New York City leaders and community development practitioners to acknowledge long standing racist housing and economic development systems to radically redefine post-pandemic recovery efforts. This historic moment of social unrest calls for transformational ideas that collapse systems of oppression to build a new path moving forward.
Programs
Power After the Pandemic gathered leaders in community development, urban planning, public policy, and municipal finance to discuss alternative recovery plans through the lens of community power: How can we build a more just city for New Yorkers hardest hit by the public health and economic crisis?
Speakers shared ideas from across the five boroughs and country on topics including: strengthening community finance in low-income neighborhoods; re-centering the role of transit in our cities; and rethinking the design of housing around health goals. These ideas were essential for us to consider as we worked to rebuild New York City. Watch and read about past programs:
- Keynote with Mehrsa Baradaran
- Community Finance
- Transportation Equity
- Healthy Housing
- Fireside Chat with Maurice and Brandee
- Fiscal Futures
- Greening Growth
- Organizing Futures
Sponsors
Power After the Pandemic was made possible through the support of Citi, the supporters of the ANHD 10th Annual Community Development Conference, and the Urban Design Forum Director’s Circle.
Past Programs
04.29.21
Join us in conversation with Louis Bailey, Assembly Member Marcela Mitaynes, Fernando Ortiz Baez, and Hatuey Ramos-Fermin as they discuss the future of community organizing. This past year highlighted the value of on-the-ground community organizing work, and generated a myriad of new possibilities for it. We have seen the rise of mutual aid networks, online organizing tactics that […]
04.08.21
Join us in conversation with U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman and Julian Brave NoiseCat as they discuss: how can cities tie racial and economic justice to climate action? The challenges facing New York and cities around the world are manyfold: the public health crises of the pandemic, decades of environmental racism, and a widening racial wealth […]
03.11.21
Join us in discussion with Kim Phillips-Fein, Andrew Rein and Xavier de Souza Briggs as they discuss lessons learned from past financial crises and ways to center equity in future city budgets. During our discussion, Jennifer Sun and Kate Slevin will join us as respondents. The economic crises of 1975 and 2008 left municipalities across […]
02.18.21
Join us in conversation with Maurice Jones of LISC and Brandee McHale of Citi Foundation, as they explore how to embrace racial equity to transform how we invest in cities. Many individuals and companies have been activated in new ways towards centering and prioritizing targeted investments to communities of color. Citi’s Action for Racial Equity […]
11.19.20
Join us in discussion with Nikil Saval, Jonsara Ruth, and Diana Hernández on ideas for a just housing recovery as seen through a health equity lens after COVID-19. During our discussion, Sandra Lobo and Eric Fang joined us as respondents. The link between access to safe and quality housing and our health has never been […]
10.15.20
Join Urban Design Forum and Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development in discussion with Kerry McLean, New York State Senator James Sanders, and Paulina Gonzalez-Brito on the future of community finance and community development after COVID-19. Access to capital remains one of the greatest challenges for community development. Over time, federal regulations like the Community […]
10.29.20
Join Urban Design Forum and Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development in discussion with Betsy Plum, Robbie Makinen, and Warren Logan on the future of transportation equity after COVID-19. Public transportation networks are the lifeblood of our cities. Throughout the pandemic, access to transit has been especially necessary for frontline workers that largely live in […]
10.02.20
Join Urban Design Forum and Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development in conversation with Mehrsa Baradaran on strategies to combat the racial wealth gap in cities. Throughout United States history, banking policies have shaped the dramatic racial wealth gap across the country. Today, access to capital is still tied to an anti-Blackness history which bars […]