Community Voices Heard

Home » Our Work » Projects

Statewide Expansion

At the start of 2004, CVH rolled out a strategic plan that set us on a course for statewide expansion. CVH leaders decided that they wanted to build bases of low-income leadership in other critical areas of the state. Too many issues facing our membership are decided at the state level and require a broader base to impact change. We also felt that it was important to bring our successful model of engagement to other disenfranchised people. We, after a statewide assessment, decided to start by expanding our operations into Westchester County and the Mid-Hudson Valley. We began by hiring organizers to assess the organizing landscape across the counties through one-on-ones and outreach with low-income individuals, advocates, and activists. Once the assessment was complete and our plan mapped out, we then hired two organizers (one in Yonkers and one in Poughkeepsie & Newburgh) to get these new organizing sites off the ground. These new chapters will focus on both locally based and state connected campaigns.

"Speakers support, fear $1.6B Yonkers project - Unions say jobs are needed; others don't want to be displaced" - Journal News

This is a story about the public hearing that CVH members testified at. The press conference CVH members held prior to the hearing is mentioned and CVH member Valerie Pearson is quoted.
AttachmentSize
april 30 2008 journal news coverage.pdf151.23 KB
| 1 attachment

Low-Income Residents Speak Out Against $159 in Tax Money Spent on Luxury Housing

CVH Press Conferance In Front of City HallCVH Press Conferance In Front of City Hall

On Tuesday, April 29th about 40 Community Voices Heard members in Yonkers spoke out against City Hall's plans to use millions of city tax dollars to subsidize the development of luxury apartments and stores. Prior to a public hearing held by the City Council on the Steuver Fidelco Capelli (SFC) development planned for Getty Square, CVH members held a press conference demanding that the project include housing and jobs for low-income families, so that they would not be displaced.

After packing into the crowded hearing, three CVH members gave testimony and asked City Council members to attend a community forum planned for June. CVH members held up signs during the testimonies and at the end chanted "brick by brick, wall by wall, build a city for us all!" The CVH press conference and testimonies were covered by the Journal News and Channel 12 News. Click the links below to see the press release and members' testimonies.


AttachmentSize
2008-04-29-Press Release-Public Hearing Action (Yonkers).doc33.5 KB
phyllis testimony april 29.doc25.5 KB
valerie april 29 testimony.doc29.5 KB
| read more | 3 attachments

"Rally to call for including low-income in massive SFC development" - Journal News

This was an online article posted April 29th, the day of our action at the public hearing on the SFC development.

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008804290440

Yonkers March to City Hall Covered by News 12

"Yonkers Residents March to Demand Inclusion of Low-Income Housing and Jobs in Development" - Home News & Times

This is an article about our recent march to City Hall in Yonkers published in the Home News & Times on Friday, February 22. CVH member and Yonkers resident Adrienne Knight is quoted in the article.
AttachmentSize
Home News and Times Feb 22 08 001.jpg200.76 KB
| 1 attachment

"Yonkers Affordable Housing Advocates March on City Hall" - Westchester Guardian

This is an article about the recent march in Yonkers. We were the front page article in this issue of the Westchester Guardian. The article is split into two PDF files that you can see below, the first is the photo from the paper's cover and the second is the article.

AttachmentSize
2008.02.21 Yonkers March Westchester Guardian Cover.pdf622.2 KB
2008.02.21 Yonkers March Westchester Guardian Article.pdf471.94 KB
| 2 attachments

"Housing group to march in downtown Yonkers tonight" - Journal News

This is an article that was put in the Journal News about the march that Community Voices Heard held in Yonkers, NY to demand that no more public housing is demolished, and that the city include housing and jobs for low-income families in the plans for development in Getty’s Square. The cold and the snow couldn't stop CVH members from coming out to have their voices heard! CVH member and Yonkers resident Shateema Sherrill is quoted in the article.

AttachmentSize
2008.02.12 Housing group to march in downtown Yonkers tonight - LoHUD Journal.pdf27.19 KB
| 1 attachment

Long-term Residents March to City Hall to Demand Inclusion of Low-Income Housing and Jobs for Local Residents in Development

Tonight low-income residents of Yonkers and members of Community Voices Heard marched to City Hall to demand that the city include housing and jobs for low-income families in the plans for development in Getty’s Square, and that no more public housing will be demolished in Yonkers.

Even though the temperature was below freezing and the snow was so bad that many buses stopped running, CVH members still marched to City Hall. We held a press conference where members gave testimony about the need for low-income Yonkers residents to have a say in the decisions affecting their lives. Adrienne Knight, a member of Community Voices Heard and resident of the Schlobohm public housing development explained why the group was out tonight, “We are here today to demand that the city invest in public housing and low-income housing – and not tear any more down. We are dropping keys off today at City Hall because we don’t want to be locked out – we are the residents of Yonkers and we have a say.”

AttachmentSize
2008-02-06-Press Release-March to City Hall (Yonkers).doc45 KB
val testimony.doc26 KB
walter testimony.doc25.5 KB
Adrienne Knight testimony.doc25.5 KB
| read more | 4 attachments

Low-income Residents Take to the Streets to Demand a Voice in Yonkers Development

Low-income residents of Yonkers and members of Community Voices Heard will March to City Hall to demand that the city include housing and jobs for low-income families in the plans for development in Getty’s Square, and that no more public housing will be demolished. We are marching because Southwest Yonkers is being rapidly developed and gentrified, displacing low-income people. Mulford Gardens, a public housing development, is set for demolition and the plan to rebuild it does not include enough low-income units for all former residents to return.

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
6:30PM: March begins at Chicken Island, Yonkers
7:00PM: Press Conference at Yonkers City Hall, 40 South Broadway

AttachmentSize
2008-02-06-Media Advisory-March to City Hall (Yonkers).doc43.5 KB
| read more | 1 attachment

CVH Members Testify at State Budget Hearing on Affordable Housing

On January 29, 2008 a group of CVH members and staff from all three chapters traveled to Albany for the State Legislature's budget hearing on affordable housing. Three CVH members from each of our chapter testified before a panel of State Senators and Assembly Members about how funding for public and low-income housing could impact their lives and their communities. Ann Valdez, a CVH member from Brooklyn, testified on the need for the state to fund public housing. Yusuf Belford, a CVH member from Newburgh, spoke about homelessness and the need for good quality affordable housing for low-income people. Valerie Pearson, a CVH member from Yonkers, talked about redevelopment plans for her neighborhood that are threatening to displace public housing and low-income residents.

AttachmentSize
Yusuf Belford Testimony.doc39.5 KB
ANN VALDEZ.doc25.5 KB
| read more | 2 attachments

CVH Opens Office In Yonkers!

Yonkers CVH Members Cut Ribbon for New OfficeYonkers CVH Members Cut Ribbon for New Office

 

It's been a year since Community Voices Heard members first formed a chapter in Yonkers to fight for low-income housing, jobs, and social services that work. Now we have our very own space! On October 17th, CVH staff and members from around the state came together to celebrate the opening of our new office with a potluck dinner and ribbon cutting ceremony. Missed the party but want to come check out the very first CVH chapter office outside of NYC? Contact Sarah at 914-519-8588 or just stop on by! Here is our new address:

Community Voices Heard

164 Ashburton Ave, 2nd Floor

Yonkers, NY 10701

read more

"Yonkers' Housing Authority Crafting Security and Rehabilitiation Plan for Schlobohm, Calcagno Complexes" - LoHUD

This article discusses security in Public Housing in Yonkers. The article also discusses a tour of Yonkers public housing and other community sites that Community Voices Heard Organized for State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. CVH Member Valerie Pearson is quoted in the article.
AttachmentSize
7-16-07 Yonkers Public Housing.pdf81.93 KB
| 1 attachment

Long Term Residents of Yonkers Guide State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins on a Day Living in Poverty

Today, low-income residents of Yonkers who are also members of Community Voices Heard guided State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins through a day of living in poverty. Residents took the Senator to several sites to show her the struggles they face as low-income people and ended the day by proposing solutions that she can take to address the problems presented to her.
AttachmentSize
2007-07-12 Press Release ASC Day in the Life.doc34.5 KB
| 1 attachment