An Evening of Resistance: A Panel on Restoring Community Wellbeing

Join MHAction as they present different perspectives and responses to the fight for housing justice in Upstate New York. They will be highlighting and discussing key issues affecting manufactured housing residents, including:

• The social, public, and environmental health repercussions that arise due to land exploitation
• The importance of housing justice in the Upstate New York landscape
• What “home” means in today’s climate, and the forces or threats that create displacement
• The effects that predatory land grabs have on vulnerable communities
• How communities can build grassroots power to dismantle oppressive systems

The panel will feature the following participants:

Ana Maria Archila

Currently a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York, Ana María has been a leader in NY and nationally in the fight for immigrant rights, worker justice, LGBTQ rights, and women’s rights for two decades. She co-founded and led several grassroots progressive organizations, including Make the Road New York and the Center for Popular Democracy, and has dedicated her life to fighting for the rights and dignity of working people – Black, Latino, Asian, white, immigrant and native-born.

D. Colin

D. is a Capital Region poet, visual artist, and educator. She is also a Cave Canem, VONA and New York State Writers Institute fellow. She currently sits on the board for The Sanctuary for Independent Media, Black Dimensions in Art and is a founding member of the Social Justice Artist Collective.

Brandon Hunter (Hunter Scott Imagery)

Originally from Buffalo, New York, Brandon has become an educator in the photography industry. This event will feature his photo series on the conditions and displacement of manufactured housing residents in the Hudson Valley.

Loretta Pyles, PhD, Professor

Loretta Pyles, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Social Welfare at the State University of New York at Albany. She has worked primarily with public and non-profit organizations helping them to embody a culture of integrative care through trauma-informed and anti-oppression lenses.

MHAction Community Leaders (Gail Travers – Akron, NY and Betz Clair – Newburgh, NY)

The heart and soul of our organizing work. Leaders will be part of a panel in which they share their stories of living in manufactured housing communities with predatory owners, their organizing work, and answer questions from the audience.

Food and drinks will be provided! All proceeds will go towards MHAction’s organizing work in our mission to fight for housing justice.