Two dynamic organizations unite to fight inequality and economic injustice - Make the Road New York

By Emily Langdon

"One out of every five New Yorkers lives in poverty. The poverty rate is not declining, and Manhattan has become the most unequal county in the entire United States. Beyond the narrow politics of red state/blue state lies the daily realities of how families struggle to survive in New York City. Poverty causes stress and indignity, and truncates opportunity. Children go hungry. Families go homeless. Parents work multiple jobs and are not around to support their children. Young people fake [being] sick to avoid school trips they cannot afford."
- Make the Road New York

Members of Make the Road New York make their voices heard at a rally in Albany.

Photo courtesy of Make the Road New York

In 1997, Make the Road by Walking, Inc. (MTR) was founded in a Bushwick church basement by local residents who wanted to address the potentially devastating effects of welfare reform on poor and immigrant communities in the U.S. According to Make the Road New York's video, "An Introduction to Our Organization," Bushwick is one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City with an average annual household income of only $7,000. Initially MTR focused exclusively on organizing immigrant welfare recipients, but soon expanded its focus to combat the systematic economic and political marginalization of Bushwick residents. "Make the Road has been organizing people and providing services to the community in Bushwick for ten years, growing over that decade into an organization known across the city for its innovative, democratic, community-led efforts to promote justice and equality for the low-income population of Bushwick," said Mike Haber, a staff attorney in Brooklyn A's Community and Economic Development (CED) Unit.

In recent years, MTR forged a productive, close working relationship with another not-for-profit community group, Latin American Integration Center (LAIC). LAIC was founded in 1992 by a social justice lawyer from Columbia who created the organization to promote human rights and democratic participation in her community. LAIC sought to mobilize Latino community members to overcome systematic barriers to basic services and equal rights and to expand the power of immigrants within New York's political and civic life. LAIC grew to become a multi-service agency with two centers in Queens, in an area with the highest density of immigrants in New York City, and one center in Port Richmond, a community in Staten Island with the fastest growing Mexican community in the City. LAIC has used these centers in its battle to protect the rights of immigrants through community education, community organizing and strategic policy advocacy.

MTR and LAIC sought to merge their organizations together into one in order to create a city-wide organization that brings together the groups' deep and active community roots, and that combines democratic accountability to low-income people with an innovative mix of strategies to confront inequality and economic injustice. The two groups were joined together legally through an asset acquisition in October 2007, and the joined entity changed its name to Make the Road New York (MRNY) to reflect the change. Haber, who led Brooklyn A's representation of MTR during the 'merger' process, believes that "by bringing together their different organizing and programming strengths, the services provided in all three boroughs will be strengthened." With over 3,500 members, 60 employees, offices in three out of the five boroughs in New York City and an annual budget of close to four million dollars, MRNY is already well on its way to achieving the goals it defined at its inception.

Make the Road New York organizes young people.

Photo courtesy of Make the Road New York

Brooklyn A, through its CED Unit, represented MTR in its asset acquisition of LAIC. Brooklyn A's work on this project has included: drafting and negotiating the confidentiality agreement binding the parties during the term of the transaction; due diligence review; negotiation of the form for the corporate transaction; drafting and advocating for assignments of LAIC's grant contracts; amending MTR's by-laws; obtaining necessary consents to the transaction from government regulators and other third parties; negotiating the terms and structure of the asset transfer contract; and changing the name of the corporation to Make the Road New York in recognition of the new corporate structure. Now that the groups have joined together, Andrew Friedman, one of three MRNY co-directors, says: "We can catalyze policy change at the city and state level, we can provide comprehensive legal, support, adult education and youth development services in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island." With the legal support of Brooklyn A's CED Unit, Friedman adds, "we have created a vehicle that low-income immigrant New Yorkers can use to make their vision for a more equitable and inclusive New York City a reality."

This summer Brooklyn A represented MRNY in negotiating a long-term commercial lease for their new location in Jackson Heights, Queens. LAIC previously operated out of two smaller locations in Queens. Now, MRNY will have ample space to expand its wide array of high-quality services to low-income immigrants and residents of Queens. Brooklyn A has also been working on finalizing the architect and general contractor agreements to begin renovations on the new space. According to Friedman, "The work of Brooklyn A has enabled us to continue focusing on our core programs. Brooklyn A does such amazing and diligent corporate legal work for us - from handling the merger, to helping us secure our new Queens space. We are a bigger, better and more well-located organization as a result of Brooklyn A's incredibly generous legal work." MTR has been a client of and has partnered with Brooklyn A on a variety of projects in the community over its decade of existence and MRNY and Brooklyn A look forward to continued collaboration in the future.