Projects

24th Annual Beer Blues & BBQ Photo Gallery

Images from our 24th annual BBBBQ are now online. Click here to visit the gallery.

"The State of Public Housing" on The Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC)

Alexa Kasdan, director of research and policy at the Urban Justice Center's Community Development Project, and Agnes Rivera, board member at Community Voices Heard and a resident of the Wagner Houses in East Harlem, discussed their report "We Call These Projects Home: Solving the Housing Crisis from the Ground Up".

The Brian Lehrer Show: "The State of Public Housing," June 18, 2010
The Brian Lehrer Show: "The State of Public Housing (audio)," June 18, 2010

CDP Research and Policy Initiative Update Winter/Spring 2010

We are pleased to share this new update from the Research and Policy Initiative at the Community Development Project. After releasing eight community-based research reports last year, we have kept up the momentum in 2010 and have released four new reports with our grassroots community partners. In addition, we continue to coordi­nate and support the development of several citywide and national campaigns to fight for justice for low-income people. This newsletter will provide brief descriptions of the new reports we have released in 2010 and some of the press attention our reports have received. The update also includes some of the projects we are currently working on that are soon to be com­plete. For more information about our reports or current projects, please contact Alexa Kasdan, Director of Research and Policy at akasdan@urbanjustice.org.

"2010 Research and Policy Initiative Update," June 2010

Community Development Project and Several Legal Services Organizations Highlight Deceptive Debt Collection Practices in a New Report about Debt Buyers

The Community Development Project – together with the Legal Aid Society, MFY Legal Services and NEDAP – has released a new report on May 24, 2010 entitled, Debt Deception: How Debt Buyers Abuse the Legal System to Prey on Lower-Income New Yorkers. The groundbreaking report is a follow up to our 2007 report Debt Weight and further examines the astounding growth of the debt buying industry and its profound impact on debt collection practices in New York and upon the lives of lower-income New Yorkers. The report finds that the 26 debt buyers who filed the most cases in NYC Civil Court from January 2006 through June 2008 were awarded over $1 billion dollars in judgments and settlements despite the fact that these debt buyers often failed to notify people of lawsuits against them and filed lawsuits with no proof of their claims. The report highlights findings from 2 data sets, provides quantitative and qualitative data analysis of the debt buyer business model, debt buyer lawsuits and collection methods and the impact of these activities on lower-income New Yorkers and communities of color. The report also recommends several policy and legislative reforms and calls on local, state and Federal lawmakers to take action against abusive debt buyer lawsuits and collection activity.

"Debt Deception: How Debt Buyers Abuse the Legal System to Prey on Lower-Income New Yorkers," May 24, 2010

"Debt Deception: How Debt Buyers Abuse the Legal System to Prey on Lower-Income New Yorkers," UJC Press Release, May 24, 2010

CDP's New Ground Breaking National Report in Partnership with the Right to the City Alliance: We Call These Projects Home: Solving the Housing Crisis from the Ground Up

In partnership with the Right to the City Alliance and the Advancement Project, the Community Development Project (CDP) of the Urban Justice Center released a new report on May 18, 2010, We Call These Projects Home: Solving the Housing Crisis from the Ground Up. The report was released in Washington, D.C. at a congressional briefing co-sponsored by Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Representative Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY). The report represents the voices of public housing residents across seven cities and includes quantitative and qualitative data analysis from Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Oakland, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The report also includes various policy recommendations calling on Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to strengthen and expand public housing.

"We Call These Projects Home: Solving the Housing Crisis from the Ground Up," A Right to the City Alliance Report on Public Housing, May 2010

"We Call These Projects Home: Executive Summary," May 2010

"We Call These Projects Home: Executive Summary (Spanish)," May 2010

"We Call These Projects Home," UJC Press Release, May 18, 2010

From the press:
Huffington Post: "We Call These Projects Home," May 19, 2010
Right to the City: "We Call These Projects Home," May 17, 2010
RaceWire: "Report: Public Housing Works, When You Invest In It," May 2010
The Brian Lehrer Show: "The State of Public Housing (audio)," June 18, 2010