Community organizing is based upon the belief that those affected by issues must play a leading role in developing solutions and mobilizing for their implementation. At PACC, we do this by creating relationships between tenants, landlords and small homeowners, identifying common needs and providing training to create local leaders, and running issue-oriented campaigns that use direct action tactics to win progressive change. Our community organizing program affirms that the solutions to the problems that affect our neighborhood and city reside in the people being directly impacted.
PACC holds a Monthly Community Organizing meeting on the third (3rd) Thursday of each month, where residents come together to discuss campaigns, learn about new issues, and decide plans of action. For more information about our next Community Organizing meeting, please call:
Juanita Edwards* at 718-522-2613 x 24 or Jonathan Furlong* at 718-522-2613 x 25
Current Organizing Priorities
At PACC, our organizing team is dedicated to preventing displacement, organizing for safe housing, and preserving subsidized & stabilized housing. We do this through our programs and organizing work with tenants living in rent-stabalized apartments, unregulated housing, and Project Based Section 8 buildings.
Current Programs and Organizing Opportunities
1-on-1 Tenant Counseling: Our office, located at 201 Dekalb Avenue, is open Monday to Friday from 9am-5pm. Tenants should call to schedule an appointment. Walk-ins are accepted. Starting April 2009, we are open on the 1st Saturday of every month from 10am-1pm.
Tenant Rights Workshops: Every third Thursday of the month, we host a workshop where residents come together to discuss building problems, community and neighborhood issues, and gain more knowledge of tenant rights.
Legal Clinics: In partnership with South Brooklyn Legal Services & the Brooklyn Neighborhood Office of the Legal Aid Society, PACC offers two legal clinics every month for tenants; the 1st Wednesday & 3rd Thursday of the month (by appointment only).
Assistance Building Tenant Associations: We provide support to buildings that want to create or strengthen tenant associations.
Building Outreach & Surveys: We conduct surveys in Community Boards 3 & 8 for NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) to document violations and facilitate repairs.
City-Wide Organizing: We work with city, state, and federal coalitions to preserve and create affordable housing through policy change.
Lead Testing and Education: We provide education on the hazards of lead paint and conduct tests for lead paint in your home. To find out more information, call Hector Rivera at 718-522-2613 ext. 21
PLG - PACC Leadership Group*: This group of community members comes together to organize around community issues of housing, health, education, concern for senior citizens and youth as well as develop their community organizing and leadership skills.
Each every 3rd Wednesday of the month, by appointment only, PACC holds Displacement Watch meetings at our 201 Dekalb office for tenants that have received eviction notices or otherwise need assistance with their housing situation. For more information about these meetings or to make an appointment, contact Juanita Edwards at 718-522-2613 x24.
Organizing for Safe Housing
Thanks to the start up grants of DeutscheBank and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, PACC initiated an ongoing participatory research project to test homes for lead paint in the high-risk neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Our pilot project, run in the Spring of 2003, led to our discovery of widespread lead hazards--1 in every 3 homes tested with dangerous levels--which was documented in our report "The Politics of Poison," and featured in the New York Times along with numerous other media outlets. In 2004 we published a follow-up report, which found that half of the 73 units tested contained lead levels above the federal safety threshold.
Along with our lead paint organizing, PACC organizes tenants around other code enforcement and health problems like a lack of heat and cockroach and rodent infestations—which can trigger asthma attacks. For more information on our lead paint and code enforcement organizing, contact Hector Rivera at 718-522-2613 x21.
Recent Accomplishments
PACC’s organizing team has played an active role in organizing and empowering tenants through local and city-wide changes. In recent years, these accomplishments include the following:
- Spring of 2003: With the assistance of start up grants from Deutsche Bank and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, PACC initiated a major lead paint campaign in Central Brooklyn. This project illuminated the widespread dangers of lead paint in the community where 1 in every 3 homes tested with dangerous levels. PACC produced a follow-up report in 2004.
- 2004: Victory on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act (Local Law 1 of 2004) for mandatory lead paint removal by landlords in housing and day care facilities.
- Spring of 2008: Victory on Intro 61-A which makes it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants based upon any source of income, such as Section 8 vouchers or public assistance.
- Spring of 2008: Victory on Tenant Protection Act (Local Law 7) which created new tenant protections in NYC against landlord harassment.
- Winter of 2009: Worked toward repealing vacancy decontrol in New York State.
- Assisted more than 300 tenants through one-on-one tenant counseling in 2008.
- Assisted in building more than 20 tenant associations in Central Brooklyn in 2008.
Get involved with PACC today!
Become informed & empowered to create a stronger neighborhood!
If you are a tenant who needs assistance with a landlord-tenant issue or to learn more aobut our programs please contact us.