NOV 18, 2013

ANNIVERSARY GALA

GALA COMMITTEE

Matthew Hall Goldstein Hall PLLC

Kent Hiteshew J.P. Morgan

Marc Jahr NYCHDC

Sister Joan Kirby UHAB Board Member

Charles Laven Forsyth Street Advisors

Lawrence McGaughey The Law Offices of Lawrence McGaughey

The Very Rev. James P. Morton Interfaith Center of New York

Michael Rooney MDG Design & Construction LLC

Christopher Ryan Expo Construction

John Warren WFHA

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Charles S. Laven President

The Very Rev. James P. Morton Vice President

Maurice Sieradzki, Esq. Secretary/Treasurer

BOARD MEMBERS

Clifford P. Charles

Sister Joan Kirby

C. Knox LaSister lll

Mary Ann Rothman

Andrew Reicher Executive Director

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Dear UHAB Friends & SupportersWe wonder what our founder, the late Don Terner would say about today’s gathering. Urban homesteading was a curiosity 40 years ago. Organizing tenants and training them to become homeowners was thought to be a novelty when UHAB was starting. Well, there are now over 30,000 families living in permanently, affordable housing. HDFC housing cooperatives are part of the New York City landscape. UHAB and the HDFC co-ops are the answer to the question—how do you have affordable, sustainable, housing in New York City.

None of this work could ever have happened if it were not for people of great faith. Perhaps that is why UHAB’s first home was located at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. In the 1970’s you would find tenants from all over the city attending training classes at the Cathedral.

The sustainability of UHAB’s work has been a collaboration of the public and private sectors. The ability to accomplish our work has been based on an incredible, visionary, hardworking and dedicated staff.

Tonight we honor and salute the Women of UHAB—Ann Henderson, Ingrid Kaminski, Dina Levy and Mary Ann Rothman. Each of these women have contributed to the creation and preservation of affordable HDFC cooperatives over the years.

We also honor 827 East 147th Street HDFC as UHAB’s HDFC of the Year. They have been a cooperative for 31 years and continue to meet the challenges of homeownership.

Thank you all for your support and for coming out tonight to help us celebrate the first 40 years!

PEACE!

Andrew Reicher Charles Laven Executive Director Board President

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Honoree Ann Henderson

Ann Henderson began working at UHAB in 1978 as a Project Associate when the TIL Program was just beginning. Over the years she has held positions as Training Director, Director of the HPD Contract and Fiscal Officer before forming the Co-op Preservation Department in 1996 with Fernando Alarcon. She is the Associate Director for Co-op Preservation at UHAB; Fernando is the other Associate Director. This department works one-on-one with financially distressed HDFCs as well as HDFCs who need loans for capital improvements. They and their staff do a full assessment of each HDFC’s financial, organizational and capital improvement needs and then use loans, cost saving measures, apartment sales, etc. to stabilize and ensure the long-term survival of this affordable homeownership opportunity for low income New Yorkers.

Ann graduated from Friends World College in 1973. This international experience-based education was a major influence on her life and perspective on working with people to improve their lives through providing quality, stable housing and community development initiatives. She spent extensive time in Mexico, East Africa, Sweden and India studying community development while living with families and doing study trips with her fellow FWC students. Her next educational experience was attending Hunter College where she received a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning prior to beginning her career at UHAB.

Ann lived in East Harlem for many years and began volunteering at Hope Community where she has been on the Board for many years and is the president of the Board of Directors. She is the mother of Dubois Thomas who with his partner Beth Walker are now expecting her first grandchild, another new experience she is looking forward to.

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Honoree Ingrid Kaminski

Ingrid has a broad educational and professional background. She studied at the University of Vienna and Technical College of Cambridge University, United Kingdom where she majored in International Relations and Interpretation before immigrating to the United States.

Ms. Kaminski has worked very closely with UHAB since 1975 and developed an exclusive property and liability insurance program for affordable housing cooperatives. This program provides insurance for over 500 buildings and has been very successful. She also became known as the go to insurance broker for large high profile low income renovation projects and initiated insurance policies for all the construction phases until the project was completed.

In addition to being honored by UHAB, Ingrid received the Paul Harris Fellow award from the Rotary Foundation of America. She is affiliated with a number of not for profit organizations

Ingrid recently retired after being employed by Bollinger Insurance and R & F of New York for 38 years. You can now find her working as a volunteer at UHAB. In addition to her volunteer work, she is spending a lot of time with her beloved granddaughter.

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Honoree Dina Levy

Ms. Levy is currently a Special Assistant to NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and is dedicated to ensuring that New Yorkers are receiving optimal benefits under the National Mortgage Settlement. Prior to assuming this role, Ms. Levy served as the Director of Organizing and Policy at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, a city wide non-profit. Under her leadership, UHAB expanded its policy work and became a leader in the fight to preserve city, state and federally subsidized housing. She also led multi-faceted campaign aimed at identifying creative solutions for preserving and stabilizing affordable rental housing placed at-risk as a result of speculation and overleveraging.

Prior to coming to UHAB, Ms. Levy worked in Newark New Jersey directing a comprehensive community revitalization effort. From 1998 to 2001 Ms Levy was the founding Director of a Grameen-Bank affiliated micro-finance program; one of only two domestic programs operating in the United States. She began her career as tenant organizer in Dallas, Texas working for the preservation of federally subsidized housing. From 2008-2012 she was a member of the Board of Directors of New York State Tenants and Neighbors, a state-wide membership non-profit committed to tenant empowerment and affordable housing. In March of 2011, Ms. Levy was selected by Crains New York Business for their annual “40 Under 40” award, an honor bestowed for making substantial contributions in a chosen field.

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Honoree Mary Ann Rothman

Mary Ann Rothman is Executive Director of the Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums (CNYC Inc.), a membership organization providing information, education and advocacy to and for more than 2,300 housing cooperatives and condominiums in the greater New York area. She has served in this capacity for more than 30 years. She prepares CNYC communications, lobbies for measures of importance to housing cooperatives and condominiums, oversees the content of the CNYC website, organizes workshops and seminars including partnering with UHAB to present an annual Housing Conference that brings together hundreds of people for an information packed day of seminars and exchanges of ideas. CNYC just celebrated its 33rd Annual Conference.

In addition to serving on the Board of UHAB, Rothman is a member of the boards of the National Cooperative Business Association, the National Association of Housing Cooperatives, and the National Cooperative Bank. She is secretary of the Action Committee for Reasonable Real Estate Taxes which CNYC formed in 1990 to promote property tax fairness in New York City, and she represents CNYC on the Executive Board of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, Inc. (the RAB), which negotiates with building service employees on behalf of New York property owners, including cooperatives and condominiums.

Mary Ann Rothman holds a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and an M.A. from Middlebury College, both in French language and literature. She lives in Manhattan and has served for many years on the board of the cooperative that has been her home since 1968. She has two married sons, Daniel and Michael, two delightful daughters-in-law and four wonderful grandchildren.

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HDFC of the Year 823 East 147th StreetLike all HDFC housing cooperatives, 823 East 147th Street HDFC has had its share of ups and downs in running the building. This year, they celebrate their 31st year of being a cooperative, and they have been selected as the HDFC of the Year.

When they purchased their 34-unit building in 1987 from the City, there had been few major capital improvements done. They struggled with rent collection and keeping up the building for many years. In 2003, they were one of the first HDFCs to apply for the Tax Relief Program with UHAB’s assistance. Over $120,000 in delinquent taxes were removed when they signed the Tax Relief Regulatory Agreement in April 2005. UHAB has continued to provide assistance to the Board and shareholders over the subsequent years.

In 2009 the side wall of their building almost collapsed and the Board had to do emergency work and apply for an 8A loan. The 8A loan $1,189,996 closed on June 25, 2010. In addition to the side wall, the loan covered additional masonry work, a new roof, new boiler, gas re-pipe, windows, and the re-establishment of two apartments in space that we discovered was an illegal commercial space. Now there is a new Board, several new shareholders and outside management. The Board used the proceeds from the sale of the 2 new units to do additional work on the building including pointing, and new hall tiles.

It takes a lot of work and determination to keep a building running and the Board of Directors and the shareholders of 823 East 147th Street have demonstrated that they have the right stuff. Upon hearing that they had been selected the Board responded that they were deeply honored, noting that this was a team effort between the Board, UHAB staff and JLP Metro Management Co.

Homesteading Sponsors

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Homesteading Friends

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