The 48th Annual Scholar and Feminist Conference: Housing Justice/Housing Futures

Historic Bedford Stuyvesant has a rich history and culture that has created a vibrant neighborhood, which has continued to transform over the years. In the last census, BK Reader reported that, “Bed-Stuy Lost 22K Black Residents Last Decade”. While many were shocked at the statistic, it didn’t reflect the historical organizing of the community or the ways in which the community can and does address change. From Shirley Chisholm to now, we explore how organizing has impacted the Bed-Stuy community, how current policy can help to empower homeowners and tenants and the ways in which community can generate a narrative beyond statistics. Panel participants will share strategies to organize effectively in our changing times.

Housing Justice and Engaged Scholarship with Mary Rocco (Barnard College), Akira Drake Rodriguez (University of Pennsylvania), and Lisa Bates (Portland State University)

Engaged scholars will facilitate this session around the scholar-community interface with a focus on methods for building, maintaining and leveraging community-university relationships to achieve goals for public impact. During the workshop, facilitators will hold a roundtable discussion on network building and strengthening through shared partnerships and research agendas rooted in principles of social justice in the housing arena and through feminist scholarship. Participants will have the opportunity to map networks, issues, and assets inherent in their scholarship and activist work and collaboratively engage their own and others’ resource-mapping exercises to practice facilitating connections that are essential to successful partnerships in the broader context.

Collaboration & Care in Mapping Displacement & Resistance with Ariana Allensworth (artist), Sam Rabiyah (THE CITY and Anti-Eviction Mapping Project)

In this workshop facilitated by long-time members of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, participants will explore ways that data and technology can be leveraged to embolden and work alongside housing justice movements. Mainstream digital media traps the lives and stories of displaced and housing insecure folks inside of biased tropes, numbers in charts, dots on a map.  Using recent projects from the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (multimedia data visualization and storytelling collective), Staying Power (a platform dedicated to amplifying a people’s history of public housing), and other counter-mapping initiatives, participants will discuss creative media practices that seek to make data actionable to movement organizers and weave tenant voices of resistance more fully into the stories we tell about displacement.

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Participant Bios 

Ariana Faye Allensworth is a cultural worker committed to building community power through participatory art, design, and research. She currently works as a Design Director at the global design and innovation firm IDEO and is a founding member of the New York City chapter of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project. Her latest project, Staying Power, is a print and online publishing platform dedicated to amplifying a people’s history of public housing. 

Lisa K. Bates, PhD is Professor at Portland State University in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning and in Black Studies. Her research focus is housing and her planning practice aims to build new models for emancipation.

Joan Bradford (Creative Partner, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) is a choreographer, dancer, arts administrator, and teaching artist proudly born, raised, and still residing in The Bronx, NY. Joan earned her BFA in Dance and minor in Theatre from Long Island University with awards in choreographic achievement and has since collaborated with Sydnie L. Mosley Dances, MizantyMoves Dance Works, Alexandra Beller, Alethea Pace, KamrDANCE, Praevado Dance Collective, and Mise en Danse throughout the tri-state and in residencies through Temple University, The Iron Factory, Wilson College, and Lincoln Center. Joan has shared her choreography at venues including Symphony Space, Triskelion Arts, Socrates Sculpture Park, Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse, The Old First Reformed Church, Atlas Studios, The Ritz Theater, Arts on Site, The Tilles Center, Pepatián: Bronx Arts ColLABorative, BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) and The Knockdown Center. Joan has completed choreographic residencies with Lost Dog Dance Theatre in Lewes, England, and with the Dancing Futures Residency presented by Pepatián and BAAD! under the mentorship of Sydnie L. Mosley and Alexandra Beller. Currently, Joan is a Creative Partner, Rehearsal Director, and Production & Administrative Manager with Sydnie L. Mosley Dances, a Teaching Artist and Project Manager with The Bronx House, a Producer with WAXworks, Co-chair of the Dance/NYC Junior Committee, and a Fellow with the Performance Project at University Settlement. This is Joan’s fifth season with SLMDances.

April De Simone is a transdisciplinary designer working at the intersection of design, planning, and systems thinking.  Her work is inspired by her experiences growing up in a Bronx, New York neighborhood, steeped in the collateral consequences of intentionally designed systems of inequity.  In partnership with diverse stakeholders, she seeks to cultivate reframed opportunities within spatial practice, advancing equitable, humane, and just frameworks and projects shaping the conditions of our society.  In 2015, April co-founded Designing the WE, where she co-created Undesign the Redline, a nationally recognized exhibition exploring the historical and contemporary impacts of unjust policies and practices like residential racial ordinances, redlining, and Urban Renewal. More recently, she transitioned from her role as a Principal at Trahan Architects to co-launch We Architect (We Arch.) in the Fall of 2023. She is also the curator of The Practice of Democracy: We Hold These Truths, a traveling exhibition, and program which launched on the High Line in the summer of 2022. 

Sekiya Dorsett  is a GLAAD award-winning filmmaker who centers a multidimensional Black experience. Bringing into sharper focus the lives of Black women, queer folks, the working class and their intersections, Sekiya’s first feature, 2017’s “The Revival: Women and the Word” traversed the United States on tour with Black lesbian poets is distributed by Women Make Movies. Recently, Sekiya was one of the cinematographers who brought “In Our Mother’s Gardens (Netflix),” a masterpiece of intergenerational Black woman confessional storytelling, to critical and audience acclaim. Her current project, I LOVE BED-STUY, is a docu-fiction feature length love story and love letter to Brooklyn’s iconic neighborhood.

Guatu Ke Ini Inaru’s colonial name is Ramona Ferreyra. She is a social entrepreneur and Founder of Ojala Threads. A doodler, historian, poet, advocate and defender, Guatuke identifies as Hispanic, indigenous, and disabled. She impacts policymaking in the areas of criminal justice reform, public housing and public transportation. Guatuke tweaked her leadership style at Harvard’s Kennedy School and Center for Creative Leadership. She previously led outreach efforts for the FBI and Department of Defense focused on community engagement and environmental resilience.

Jenna Freedman is the founder and director of the Barnard Zine Library and lives in an HDFC Co-op.

Brittany Grier (Creative Partner, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) is an interdisciplinary teaching artist, performer, educator, as well as a cultural arts organizer. She began at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Dance Theater and continued her training, leading to a B.A. in dance, at CUNY Lehman College. Further education has emerged as 2018-2020 Community Actionist with Gibney Dance, a recipient of Sydnie L. Mosley Dances’ PD for The People, as well as hyperlocal community engagement liaison in Brooklyn and Harlem. Some of her lineage includes Youssouf Koumbassa,  Marie Brooks, Esther Grant, Michael Manswell, Nicholas Leichter, Adia Whitaker, as well as Kim Holmes to name a few. Current collaborations are with Movement of The People Dance Company, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances and periodically as a guest artist with Ebony Noelle Golden. Brittany’s focus is to share tools for embodied storytelling practices, uplift communities of the African Diaspora who want their stories heard, and build sustainable places of care that honor our humanity.

Rebecca Gual (Creative Partner, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) is an interdisciplinary performer, choreographer, and project manager. Born and raised in Queens, NY, she is proudly of Jamaican and Puerto Rican descent. Rebecca began her dance training at The Ailey School, continuing her education at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts and Ballet Hispánico. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance and Choreography from California Institute of the Arts, where she studied under Andre Tyson, Becca Lemme, Colin Connor, Cynthia Young, Glen Eddy, Julie Bour, Laurence Blake and Rosanna Gamson. Rebecca is currently the Rentals Manager at Center for Performance Research, a member of the Movement Research Artists of Color Council and a Creative Partner with Sydnie L. Mosley Dances. She has previously held administrative positions at A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, UOVO, Gibney, and Roads & Kingdoms. As a performer, she has had the pleasure to collaborate and perform in works by Ligia Lewis, Jessica Lang, Katherine Morales, Danielle Kipnis, Nicole Loeffler-Gladstone, Zoe Scofield, Karesia Batan, Dolly Sfeir, Tarren Johnson, Michael Leon Thomas, Joan Bradford, Oroma Elewa, and Jacqui Dugal. Rebecca creates and presents dance works as gual + moves. Her works have been presented at The Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT), SMUSH Gallery, Ailey/Citigroup Theater, Queens Museum, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!) and Triskelion Arts, among others. Rebecca has engaged in choreographic residencies at Bethany Arts Community and the Dance Your Future Residency presented by BAAD! and Pepatián, under the mentorship of Beatrice Capote and Alicia Díaz. This is Rebecca’s second season with SLMDances.

Kristen Hackett is an activist, scholar, and educator working towards decolonized, anti-racist, and just urban futures in New York City. She works closely with the Justice For All Coalition (JFAC), Save Section 9, and NYCHA Neighbor Helping Neighbors in the fight to preserve public housing and is currently finishing her PhD in the Environmental Psychology Program at The Graduate Center, CUNY and her dissertation work focuses on contemporary contestations around public housing and housing policy through a race- and class-based lens.

Dyane Harvey (Guest Artist, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) has performed with numerous companies including Tony Award Winning George Faison’s Universal Dance Experience, Dunham dancer Walter Nicks’ Dance Theatre, Otis Sallid’s New Art Ensemble, Nanette Bearden’s Contemporary Chamber Dance Company, Joan Miller’s Dance Players, internationally recognized Dance Brazil and the Trinidad/Tobago Repertory Dance Theatre. She was hailed a “New York City Dance Diva” by Dr. Glory Van Scott in her series of tributes to Black female dancers at the Schomberg Center for Research Library. She is the recipient of the 2022 Audelco award for Choreography.

Lorena Jaramillo (Creative Partner, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) is a Brooklyn based dance artist. Born and raised in Mexico City, she later relocated to New York where she graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a major in Dance and a minor in Arts for Communities. Lorena currently dances with Mobilized Voices and  NK&D/A Movement Company, with whom she has performed at Queensboro Dance Festival. Other credits include Dance to the People Apocalitzin, Reza Farkhondeh’s piece “Obscure and Back”, Juntos Collective, Semillas Collective and CoopDanza. As a teaching artist, Lorena works with Alvin Ailey Arts in Education, Bay Ridge Ballet and Amanda Selwyn’s Notes in Motion. She is committed to the use of dance as a revolutionary practice of joy and to learning and unlearning through movement, conversation and deep listening. This is Lorena’s fourth season with Sydnie L. Mosley Dances.

DJ Kaykay47 is an international DJ & Community Organizer from The Bronx who boldly creates passion and joy through movement. Growing up, Kaykay saw music, especially Hip Hop, not only as a tool of resistance, but as a form of resilience for marginalized groups of people. In 2018 she made her first international appearance in Barcelona, continuing her musical journey at DJ showcases around the world, including her most recent tour in Colombia, all while facilitating workshops on the foundations of Hip-Hop in her community. In 2022, she founded “Girls DJ Too”, a program which provides access to DJ workshops for girls and women in The Bronx. With a Master’s Degree in Social Work, Kaykay integrates personal development with Hip Hop culture, utilizing DJing as an outlet for young people and adults to express themselves freely while creating a sense of community.

Jessica Lee (Creative Partner, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) is a dance and teaching artist, arts administrator and organizer whose dance training started at Connecticut Dance School in Fairfield, Connecticut. She holds a BA in Dance and Environmental Studies from Middlebury College, where she studied under Penny Campbell, Christal Brown, Andrea Olsen, Tiffany Rhynard, and Catherine Cabeen and worked with Paloma McGregor and Trebien Pollard. Jessica’s current long term collaborations are with PURPOSE Productions (Leading Organizer), Paloma McGregor|Angela’s Pulse (Project Manager), and Sydnie L. Mosley Dances (Creative Partner, Rehearsal Director, Fundraising Manager). In NYC, Jessica teaches at BAX|Brooklyn Arts Exchange, The League School, and Bay Ridge Ballet. She is also the Director of Operations of The Sable Project, an off-grid summer artist residency and community space in Vermont. Her artistic work and teaching practice are fueled by the joy of movement and dedicated to inclusive community building. This is Jessica’s sixth season with Sydnie L. Mosley Dances.

Oksana Mironova writes about housing and cities. She holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from CUNY Hunter and was part of the 37th Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship cohort in Berlin. You can follow her on twitter @oksanamironov.

Artist-activist and educator, Sydnie L. Mosley (Founding Artistic and Executive Director, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) produces experiential dance works with her collective SLMDances, organizing in communities for gender and racial justice. Sydnie was recognized by NYC Mayor de Blasio for using her talents in dance to fuel social change and received a Bessie Award for Outstanding Performer. To develop her newest work, PURPLE: A Ritual In Nine Spells, Sydnie/SLMDances are recipients of the Harlem Stage Fund for New Work, Mertz Gilmore Late Stage Stipend, UMEZ Mertz Gilmore Seed Fund for Dance, Hi-ARTS Sky Lab Residency, and the Black Spatial Relics Microgrant. This follows a multi-year development residency through Lincoln Center Education as the Manhattan Community Artist in Residence. Further Current Funding/Recognitions: Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund, Black Art Futures Fund, and LMCC Creative Engagement Grant. Sydnie earned her MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa and her BA in Dance and Africana Studies from Barnard College, Columbia University. Sydnie performs as a guest artist with Brooklyn Ballet, has danced with Christal Brown’s INSPIRIT, and sits on the Dance/NYC Advisory Committee.

Keisha-Khan Y. Perry is the Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the Penn faculty in 2021, she was a professor at Brown University. Her first book, Black Women against the Land Grab: The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil, won the 2014 National Women’s Studies Association Gloria Anzaldúa Book Prize and an updated and revised Portuguese translation was just published in September 2022 by the Federal University of Bahia Press. She is currently writing the book, Anthropology for Liberation, that draws heavily from her ethnographic research experience in Brazil with an emphasis on the complexity of doing activist research amidst racial and gender violence. She continues her ongoing research on Black land loss and ownership in relationship to the material articulation of citizenship in Brazil, Jamaica, and the United States as well as a graphic novel project in collaboration with Bahian activists and artists. In September 2022, she edited a special issue of NACLA: Report on the Americas focused on housing justice in Latin America and the Caribbean. Keisha-Khan Perry is part of a team of 16 researchers for the National Science Foundation Grant “Research Coordination Network: Housing Justice in Unequal Cities,” and serves on the board of the Washington Brazil Office. 

Sam Rabiyah is an NYC-based journalist and multidisciplinary technologist. He works at the intersection of counter-mapping, data visualization, and oral history to make information more actionable to movement-based organizers and the public.

Mary Rocco’s teaching and research focus on the roles civic institutions play in planning neighborhoods and revitalizing cities. Her major fields of study include city planning, urban revitalization and community development with specializations in the roles of philanthropic foundations, community economic development and shrinking cities. Currently she serves as the Director of Engaged Scholarship in the Office of Community Engagement and Inclusion at Barnard College. As an affiliated faculty member in Urban Studies, Dr. Rocco co-led the preparation, launch and programming of the Undesign the Redline @Barnard project and exhibition. For the past three years she has worked with the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI) and the South Bronx Coalition to complete a Bronx-wide community plan for economic development. In 2021 she launched theCommunity Planning Lab, a summer student research fellowship program where students provide data analysis in support of community organizations in their outreach and planning activities. 

Teresa Scott is a resident of Redfern Houses, and organizes with neighbors as a member of NYCHA Neighbor Helping Neighbors and Save Section 9.Teresa has been a dedicated advocate for over 40 years, championing the rights of individuals with disabilities, seniors, and those in need of safe and secure housing. Teresa’s work has taken her to all corners of the country, and established her as a local leader and advocate for her community.  Throughout her career, Teresa has remained steadfast in her belief that advocacy work is not just a job, but a calling, and a commitment to making a positive impact in her community. She is determined to keep pushing for change no matter what challenges come her way. She currently organizes with Save Section 9 and NYCHA Neighbor Helping Neighbors and is a resident of Redfern Houses.

Jacqueline Sims has served in Nashville,TN for the past 15 years as an activist and organizer addressing the many intersecting issues of affordable housing, transit, and employment. As the Executive Director of PATHE (People’s Alliance around Transit Housing and Employment), she works with a fierce commitment to service for those struggling with housing insecurity. PATHE has now become one of the most dedicated wrap around organizations for housing justice in the surrounding Nashville community. Ms. Sims received national recognition this past year by NeighborWorks for her organizing work in the Southeast, leading negotiations with a major developer to create a more equitable, sustainable, and thoughtful relocation model for 178 families whose apartment building in a historically African American community was allowed to fall into gross disrepair and scheduled for demolition. Along with the Urban League of Middle Tennessee, Ms.Sims established the second community benefits agreement in the state of Tennessee. 

Candance Sumpster‘s (Creative Partner, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) legal name is Candace, but she goes by Candance. With one typo from the nurse, the letter “n” didn’t stop her from achieving her goals. Candance attended Queensborough Community College and Hofstra University, where she got her degree in Dance Science at QCC and a Dance education. She created works in College that she performed at ACDA. Within that time she developed her love for African American History combined with dance. She has a passion for teaching the youth from the classrooms to the hard pavements of Harlem. With the help of Black Women, she stands for the beauty of Black hair, mind, body, and spirit of Black Culture and loves to portray it through laughter and dance. This is Candance’s first season with SLMDances.

Vanessa Thill is an organizer, artist, writer, and library worker. She is an alumna (Class of ’13) and former member of Barnard Zine Club. She was one of the coordinators of the Undesign the Redline exhibit in Barnard’s Milstein Center, as well as related talks, research, reading groups, and events related to the legacy of redlining, public housing, and Columbia University’s role in displacement in West Harlem. She has recently been organizing primarily with Art Against Displacement, Save Section 9, and Brooklyn Eviction Defense. She is currently a research fellow at The CUNY Center for the Humanities for the project On the Line: Land Use, Food Access, Climate Justice and Organizing in NYC with Naomi Schiller.

Rhonda Y. Williams is a historian of low-income black women’s and marginalized people’s experiences, everyday lives, politics, and social struggles. Her research contributes to the rethinking of gender, political identity, citizenship, civil rights, black liberation struggles, and interactions with the U.S. state. She is the author of the award-winning The Politics of Public Housing: Black Women’s Struggles against Urban Inequality (2004) and Concrete Demands: The Search for Black Power in the 20th Century (2015). She is the author of numerous articles and essays, including the forthcoming book chapter titled “Women, Gender, Race, and the Welfare State” in the Oxford Handbook for Women’s and Gender History, co-edited by Lisa Materson and Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor. Williams is also the co-editor of the book series Justice, Power, and Politics at the University of North Carolina Press and is co-editor of Teaching the American Civil Rights Movement.