Our Bronx

‼️BIG NEWS: As COPA is reintroduced in the New York City Council, @nycmayor is once again reaffirming his support for the bill. The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) will help stop speculative real estate investors from scooping up affordable housing, displacing tenants, and driving up rents — while giving mission-driven nonprofits and community groups a fair shot to preserve housing affordability and keep working-class New Yorkers in NYC. New York is facing a depeening affordability crisis. We need every tool available to protect our neighborhoods and expand community-controlled housing. PASS COPA NOW!

52 years of Building Our Bronx 💛 ✨ For generations, Our Bronx has been a political home where tenants, young people, clergy, workers, families, and neighbors came together to fight for dignity, justice, and the right to shape the future of our communities. After 30 years of organizing, persistence, and visioning, the Kingsbridge Armory is finally moving forward with a plan rooted in real community investment and ownership, proving that economic development can truly benefit the people who live here. This victory was built by an ecosystem of organizers, labor unions, faith institutions, elected leaders, development partners, and Bronx residents who refused to let go of the belief that our borough deserves more. Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us and continues to build a Bronx where our people can stay, grow, govern, and thrive. ✨ 🎥: @sovereigngee

Moments from Our Bronx’s 52nd Anniversary Gala celebrating 52 Years of Building Our Bronx. 🥂 🏰 With full hearts, we paid tribute to the three decades of leadership, community organizing, and partnership and innovation across sectors that paved the way for a ground-breaking economic development project at the Kingsbridge Armory. We are proud to have uplifted six honorees who each brought visionary leadership from the different sectors that coalesced to build a new model for economic development at the Armory. -Wilson Martinez, Deacon, Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church -Lucia Gomez, National Immigration & Worker Rights Coordinator, Laborers’ International Union of North America -Brendan Griffith, President, Central Labor Council -Elisabeth Ortega-Bailey, Kingsbridge Armory Leader -Pierina Sanchez, City Council Member, District 14 -Elisse Douglass, Founder, East Freedman & Main This is only the beginning. Of bringing our community’s vision to life at the Armory. And of scaling these successes for community ownership across the Bronx. 🏗️👷🏾Join us at the Bronx Economic Development Summit June 5th & 6th at the Andrew Freedman Home—free and open to the public. Registration is LIVE at link in bio. 📸 beautifully captured by @muneeba_blogs

🚍 Last stop on our South Bronx Bronx Community Ownership Bus Tour: the newly opened Bronx People’s Federal Credit Union at 941 Intervale Avenue! 💸 In response to years of bank branch closures and financial disinvestment, the Bronx Financial Access Coalition formed a partnership with the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union, launching the Bronx People’s Mobile Branch Van in 2022 to provide equitable banking services to Bronx residents. 🧱 Now, they have their first brick-and-mortar location, where Bronxites can access easy and affordable banking services at a modern branch with state-of-the art amenities. 🫱🏾‍🫲🏿As a credit union, it is a member-owned cooperative where account holders are part owners of the financial institution. Whereas banks prioritize shareholder profits, the Bronx People’s Federal Credit Union prioritizes accessible and non-predatory services and returns profits to members through lower fees, higher savings rates, and lower loan rates. 🌱 Visit @bxfac to learn how you can open an account today! Want to learn more about how we can scale successful models like these across the Bronx? Register for the Bronx Economic Development Summit June 5th and 6th at link in bio! 👷🏾🏗️ 🎥 @sovereigngee with footage from @introvertdreamer_

Last year, Our Bronx and the Bronx-wide Coalition took three buses of Bronx residents on our second Community Ownership Bus Tour, this time showcasing sites in the South Bronx where residents are taking collective ownership of their land, homes, and financial institutions. We visited 664-672 Beck Street HDFC, an affordable housing cooperative that was once facing severe debt and structural issues. We worked with residents to renovate their homes, and keep them deeply affordable, beautiful, and under their governance. In partnership with Our Bronx and Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY), residents secured a $25 million renovation loan, without sacrificing their ownership. Resident board members shared how they were trained and supported to co-lead the entire rehab process. Today, they’re moving into beautifully renovated and affordable homes, and vacant apartments are being prioritized for families experiencing homelessness. Want to learn more about how we can scale successful models like these across the Bronx? Register for the Bronx Economic Development Summit June 5th and 6th at link in bio! 🎥 @sovereigngee with footage from @introvertdreamer_

On May 8th, help us celebrate the visionary leadership that made our groundbreaking agreements at the Kingsbridge Armory possible! 🏰 The Kingsbridge Armory will be home to one of the largest community ownership deals in a City-owned commercial project. Our Bronx’s 52nd Anniversary Gala will uplift the 30-year, cross-sector movement that enshrined community ownership, union jobs, environmental sustainability, small business supports, and other community priorities at Our Armory. ✨Learn more about this year’s honorees and their contributions to this historic milestone.✨ Pierina Sanchez, NYC Council Member, District 14 Lucia Gomez, National Immigration & Worker Rights Coordinator, Laborers’ International Union of North America Elisabeth Ortega-Bailey, Kingsbridge Armory Leader, Our Bronx Elisse Douglass, Founder and Executive Director, East Freedman & Main Wilson Martinez, Deacon, Our Lady of Angels Church Brendan Griffith, President, NYC Central Labor Council 🔗 Purchase tickets or become a sponsor, and help us set a new standard for how development is done in Our Bronx and beyond, at link in bio! 🏗️ Also at link in bio, you can fill out our Kingsbridge Armory workforce interest form to connect to job and training opportunities that are coming to our community for the Armory’s redevelopment.

For the second installment in our Community Housing Leaders series, we’re highlighting Edward Garcia of @ourbronx 📣👌🏽 Since 1974, Our Bronx (formerly Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition) has fought for social justice in Northwest Bronx communities. We spoke to Edward at an organizing event at 2051 Webster Avenue, where tenant organizers held a press conference over unacceptable conditions in their apartments due to landlord neglect. 📡 Stay tuned for the next installment of Community Housing Leaders! #housingjustice #tenantorganizing #nychousing #nycgov #affordablehousing Edited By Tomas Ryan, HPD Comms Intern Filmed By Ayan Rahman, HPD Digital Specialist

🚨This is a fight for LIFE. When it comes to our healthcare in NY, we want EVERYBODY in. NOBODY out. 🗣️We’re calling on all our state legislators to step up and be CHAMPIONS for Medicaid and the NY Health Act. In the face of the federal government stripping millions of life-saving care, passive support is no longer enough. We know the solution. The NY Health Act would provide comprehensive, quality care to every New Yorker—no exceptions. All while saving our state millions each year. Let’s get it done. #PassNYHealth #MedicareForAll 📩 RSVP for the next Our Bronx Community Meeting at link in bio to join our movement! 🎥 @sovereigngee

We teamed up with youth leaders from @base_civicsbx , @curriculum.kweens , and Partners in Preservation for a Resource Fest—jam packed with community, care, and creativity! 🫶🏿🎉 Our Community and Tenant Resource Fests are opportunities to connect with housing lawyers, learn how to organize for repairs and responsible ownership, and get connected to a wide array of housing, food, financial, immigration and community resources—ALL FREE. Stay tuned for future ones, held quarterly! 👩🏽‍🎤Young people took the lead on every part of this event—from planning, to outreach, to programming, and execution. 🫱🏾‍🫲🏿 Shout out to the amazing community partners that made this day so powerful: @nychousing @mayorspeu @nosquedamos @potsbronx @nycchr @khccnyc @thefreestoreproject @southbronxswapmeet @heroichira @youth4housing @thecirclekeepers @bronxmovil @bronxdefenders @bronxtechhub @eastsidehouseinc 🎥 @sovereigngee

Since 2019, community, faith, and labor organizations have come together to create a unifying vision for our borough that connects us across neighborhoods and advances an economy that is equitable and environmentally sustainable. 🛣️ We are creating the Bronx’s first federally-certified Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy as a roadmap to guide investment and policy towards community priorities. 📣 Last year, we gathered input from over 700 Bronxites to shape the plan. On March 28th, we’ll present a draft that reflects what we heard. We need your feedback to make it stronger. Does it serve working people? Does it reflect the Bronx? Your input will directly shape what goes into the final plan we’ll share at the Bronx Economic Development Summit on June 5th and 6th! 📌 Add your voice to the plan at one of two feedback sessions on Saturday, March 28th at the Andrew Freedman Home (1125 Grand Concourse)! 10:30am - 12pm: workforce development tabling fair 11am - 2pm: Feedback Session #1 3 - 5pm: Feedback Session #2 🥙 Lunch and light refreshments provided. 🗣️ Childcare and Spanish translation provided. 📩 RSVP for a feedback session at link in bio! Learn more at linktr.ee/bronxceds!

NWBCCC Is Now Our Bronx! ✊🏾 New Name, Same Mission, Bigger Reach. 🌇 Our Bronx is what we’ve been building toward for more than 50 years. From tenant organizing and establishing the Bronx Community Land Trust, to shaping borough-wide economic strategy, to setting new standards for development—we’ve proven that when Bronx communities organize, we can win real power, real accountability, and real ownership. 🎉 At Our 50th Anniversary we officially announced our Bronx-wide expansion that we’ve already been living into. Now we have the name and logo to match it. As Our Bronx, we are stepping into our next phase: expanding borough-wide, working in partnership with folks on the ground and groups across sectors, and scaling models that keep our people here, create family-sustaining jobs, and put decision-making in community hands—for us, by us. 🙅🏾‍♀️ The street signs of our logo represent the intersection and exchange between people, cultures, ideas, traditions, and creativity that are foundational to a thriving democracy, an equitable economy, and the fabric of our community. And as we take a borough-wide approach, we remain true to our roots of meeting people where they’re at, building power on the neighborhood level, block-by-block. Join us in the streets and at one of our community events at linktr.ee/ourbronx or link in bio! 🎥 @sovereigngee

Come through to the Community Resource Fest + Student Showcase for a one-stop-shop of housing, food, and community resources — FREE! 🫶🏿 📌 Thur, Mar 5 | 4:30-7:30PM 🙌🏾 Community Resource Fest + Student Showcase 🏫 BASE High School, 2474 Crotona Ave 🥙 Refreshments will be served. Free Iftar Halal Meal at 6pm! Get connected to: 🏡FREE housing lawyer consultations 🥶Rent freeze applications for seniors 🍎FREE food distribution 💸Financial literacy guidance 👩🏾‍🎤Civic presentation by BASE youth leaders 🫱🏿‍🫲🏽Community Ownership Info Table Brought it you by @northwestbronx , Partners in Preservation, @base_civicsbx and @curriculum.kweens with resources from many invaluable partners (tagged)! 📩 RSVP at link in bio. Contact [email protected] for more info.