Categories: New York State, New York City, Network Events
04.24.2019
Nonprofit providers, city officials, architects, developers, funders, and other community members gather over drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
On April 11th, the Network joined the supportive housing community for its Annual Meeting. An open bar, passed hors d’oeuvres, and images of supportive housing buildings newly opened in the last year set the scene for lively conversation with familiar and new faces. The group was able to hear from Senator Brian Kavanagh, Network Board Chair Brenda Rosen, Executive Director Laura Mascuch, and Network Board Treasurer Ralph Fasano.
Senator Kavanagh, who was appointed to the position of Chair of the Senate’s Committee on Housing, Construction, and Community Development earlier in the year, expressed gratitude for the work of the supportive housing community represented by all the attendees. He summarized his own efforts in office to bring fairness to New York’s housing policy, such as calling for improved housing and rent regulations that better serve residential tenants – especially some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers living in scattered site units.
Brenda Rosen, CEO of Breaking Ground and Chair of the Network’s Board of Directors, warmly welcomed the group, noting the Network’s 30-year anniversary celebrations and the community’s biggest accomplishments in 2018. Ralph Fasano, Executive Director of Concern for Independent Living and Treasurer for the Network’s Board of Directors, summarized with brevity and humor the Network’s past year of financial health.
The Network’s Executive Director, Laura Mascuch, gave attendees and summary of the progress that the supportive housing community had made with bricks and mortar and in city and state policy, the campaigns for which Network staff are advocating, and the relationships the Network is building to inform more policymakers about supportive housing. Laura also reviewed the Network’s role in both strengthening and launching services for Network members as they seek to develop the combined City/State commitments to create 35,000 supportive housing units, two examples being the Joint Venture Guidebook and the Down Payment Assistance Fund.
A slideshow of images and development details of all the newly opened supportive housing buildings and affordable housing with supportive set-asides ran all evening, and can be viewed here.
More photos from the evening can be found on the Network’s Facebook page.