Eisenhard tool

And I think the organizing and advocacy that we do is where the social chain starts to happen. And so some examples of that work, you know, NYCHA, especially after Hurricane Sandy, the repairs, I mean, people don't realize it's been seven years, they're still temporary boilers. Um, a lot of the FEMA money has an actually made it there yet. There's still all kinds of Sandy related things that have not been, repaired or fixed. And one of the things that's been happening, is that people don't have cooking gas.

And so last year, for example, there are families that started to come to us and said, we haven't been able to cook for three or four months. And it took our organization organizing, people calling NYCHA, calling the press to actually get that story in just for people to have cooking gas. The same has been true with heat.

Red Hook is top on the list for mold. We brought in a team from UC Berkeley who like looked at all the mold that had happened particularly after Hurricane Sandy. So it's really been residents who are driving that work. And so what RHI does is we are offering this space for them and the tools and connections to resources like a research Institute like UC Berkeley, but it's really the people who are driving, this is the need we go out of our way to make sure that they're the voices that are talking to press or I'm going to testify about something.

For the young people, a great example of that is that two summers ago there was an increase in violence in the neighborhood and as a result of that, there is an increase in policing. And so a lot of the young men in particular were coming to RHI and saying, you have to help us.

We don't feel safe in this neighborhood. This is a little bit out of our range of what we know what to do with. And they kept coming.

And so we said, Oh, this is a moment of community asking and we need to respond. And so we got some funding, and employed 12 young adults who did their own research and said, what is the story of violence, in this neighborhood and what are the roots of it? And they put together, they worked with a professor from Brooklyn college and the public science project. So there was real, like a real research presence. They're now known and people, researchers have come to them to talk about their model.

They present to the Department of Health. Like a lot of the things that are coming out of their report are now showing up citywide and trying to figure out, looking at all of those issues. And so I think that's the place where it becomes a little more radical is saying like, this isn't a top down model. This is just giving community members, the tools and the opportunity to tell their own story and they have their own solution.

Ofer Cohen: So, as I'm listening to you, I mean, what comes to mind is this sort of like, why, you know, if there's so many issues in public housing, why is it a nonprofits organization's job to fix all these issues?

Jill Eisenhard: Yeah, great question. We asked that all the time. I mean, I think to the, the one thing when I was very young, when I accidentally started this organization and had actually only lived in New York City for two years, and I think if I'd been here for a little longer, I never would have even tried to have done this or just would've felt like that.

What could I do? And I think, um, but you know, part of the motivator and people have said like, this work is really hard. Like why have you done it for so long? Is that, and this is gonna sound. I mean it's hope, like understanding and seeing it's just incredible to see what happens when people are given the space and the opportunity.

I got a note two days ago, a young person who had been a part of our program who was connected, with a company, and got a job in basically in the construction field, and is now moving his family out of public housing after a few years. I've had young people come in with offer letters from jobs when they're like, here's my offer letter and I'm like, you have a retirement plan. I think that's the part that feels hopeful is that the human spirit is amazing and I think having done this for 18 years, it's, there's just an opportunity to see all these things that can happen.

And that when residents come together to talk about public housing, they love their neighborhood, they love their building, they love their community. And people are like, I don't want to, I don't want public housing to go away. I don't want to move out of public housing.

I just want it to be adequate. Like I wanted to be healthy and safe and not wondering if there's lead in the walls or mold growing on my children's skin, which actually happened in one house because of the situation there.

And so I think that the drive is to really say, what would this city be without public housing? And I think as we look at what's happening, and the financial crisis that NYCHA is facing and, and I think people need to really understand who's living there and what, what that, leap would be if that isn't. And I think we have seen people who feel like I now make enough money where I can't, like I almost make too much money to live in NYCHA and there is a gap and I, there isn't anywhere to move in between.

And so we've seen a lot of people moving to Pennsylvania moving back down South of just feeling like there isn't space for me in this city if I've succeeded enough to, to move beyond, the public housing or section eight or section nine options that are here. Jill Eisenhard: Yeah, I mean the money is significant. I mean the Red Hook on the East side of the Red Hook houses, those buildings were built in and there hasn't been a significant upgrade. So any building that's been, around for that long and hasn't actually been cared for in the right way, there's a real question about how, you know, how healthy and strong, like what's the infrastructure of this building, how long is it really going to last and where does the, where, what is the smart investment and what does that look like?

Um, and so I don't know. I think within our organizing work, there are so many things that are playing out in the neighborhood right now.

There's the port authority parcel that everyone's kind of wondering, is it, you know, is it going to be sold and if it's going to be sold, what, what's the plan? There's the governor's proposal for the subway, subway line, to come. So there's a parks, open parks department conversation around what's happening with this space.

There's also a current, I feel like I'm reading every possible list of what could be happening in a neighborhood in New York City. And it's all happening in Red Hook. There's a current, conversation about districting um, related to education in the elementary schools that are in the neighborhood. And so I think from our point of view, we're really just working to figure out how can residents know about all these conversations and where is there an opportunity for them to really be the ones who are speaking up and driving and saying what they want.

Ofer Cohen: It's very interesting. So the question is sort of philosophically 25 years ahead, public housing is not going anywhere. The needs just getting bigger. Like what do you, how do you connect these two? Jill Eisenhard: I mean, I think it used to be that NYCHA actually ran community centers and did some form of direct service and I think that was a big mistake, that they need to be a landlord.

They need to focus on the things related to being a landlord and that other groups should be doing the social services and the supports that happen. I do think that it's important that different housing communities have something like an RHI that is present and that are partnering and we do partner with NYCHA. And sometimes it's that we're really holding them accountable by issuing your report or going to the press.

And sometimes we're saying like, let's work together on this. Ofer Cohen: Well, and there are people, you know, there are people in my industry, that think that the city should not be in the business of owning and managing a housing.

Jill Eisenhard: The thing about it continuing to be held with the city is that I think there's some level of, control over making sure that it's staying low income or affordable or whatever term that you want to call.

And I think that if it all becomes privatized, that there's going to be concern of like, what does that ultimately mean for the , people that are living there now, if those, you know, if markets start to drive those what is that, what's the longterm question?

So I think the idea of it staying public is really focused on ensuring that it continues to be there for families who are at the, at the beginning of the spectrum of what they can afford. Ofer Cohen: So you touched a couple of times on Sandy. Tell me about that night and that morning. Jill Eisenhard: This is interesting. This is kind of, most people don't know this. I actually had had, surgery three days before Sandy.

We just had our annual benefit and I said, this is actually, I need to have this surgery. And this was going to be a great time going to like take a week and a half off and, really like not be checking my email, not working. I'm just going to have the surgery and recover and I'll be back.

And then I'm on day three, Sandy hit. And so that night I was just, you know, getting tons and tons of text messages and I'm thinking like, our building is ruined. All of our technology's ruined. I'm sure no one thought to like pick our server up off of the floor. Um, and the next morning people started telling me, everything's fine. I didn't believe it. I'm like, they want me to rest. And so they're not telling me the truth.

Like there's no way that everything's fine, you know, looking at the news. And it was true and no one understands why it was the only building in Red Hook that like, it's as if nothing had happened, the phones are working, the lights were on, everything was fully intact. And so that next morning I got a call from a staff member and she's like, Hey, is it okay to open the building like none of us have?

And at that point, no one knew how bad it was. It's like, you know, just the next morning the sun is out. It's like, Oh, it'll all probably be fine by five o'clock today. And the water was gone by then. I was like, of course, of course you should be there. And so they started calling staff.

And people started coming in and then people started saying, Hey, I need to charge my phone. Can I come? We can't cook. The occupy, the group that became occupy Sandy people came in and said, can we use your kitchen to like cook soup?

People are going to need dinner tonight. And from there it just became full on the headquarters. And I was home. I had a, long crazy story, I was on incredible pain medication.

I had tubes coming out, I had a tumor taken out of my leg and, was working like 14 to 16 hours a day for like weeks after that but never actually set foot in Red Hook until the power was back on. Ofer Cohen: It was a pivotal moment for Red Hook, but it was a pivotal moment for the organization too, in a way.

I mean, there were people who came in, during the storm or right after the storm to make a donation and they were like, I live a mile away. I had no idea that you were here. And some of those people became longterm supporters. And so I think for us, you know, at the point that Sandy happened, we were 10 years old and we had that we're like, no one knows about us. We need a PR campaign. Of course we didn't have a director of development and we don't have communications team or PR people. So in retrospect it was like, Oh, we got, you know, through a storm.

We actually had the PR campaign, I mean the number of journalists and TV crews and everyone that was coming through responding to Sandy and for people who realize, wait a minute, this group has actually been around for 10 years. They didn't just pop up during the storm.

That really helps to us to kind of move to the next level. Ofer Cohen: Very interesting. Eisenhard Group is one of those special people. From the start of our home search through to the closing, Gil has put himself out on so many levels not only to make sure the transaction went smoothly but to make sure it was done correctly. When my fiance passed away and I was in desperate need of a place to live Gill saved me..

The stress I was under was great. Gill was understanding and was so helpful. I cannot express my the gratitude enough.

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