Community Development Toolkit & Clinic
Community Equity Investigators (CE-I) aims to examine the viability of novel shared ownership and community equity models at the pre-development stage, during which eighty to ninety percent of the project’s value is created. Through this work, CE-I will support community interest in greater agency at the grass-roots level, which leads to increased affordability, shared equity and generational wealth.
CE-I’s primary vehicle for equity exploration is the Community Development Toolkit & Clinic project. Built in collaboration with local non-profit partners, the toolkit generates a framework for community work on financial feasibility studies, site acquisition analyses and conceptual architectural schemes. This framework sets up the foundation for CE-I’s Community Development Clinic series, which are run within vacant, high-visibility storefronts in Harlem and the Bronx. The clinic’s dual objective is to serve community developers, non-profit organizations and tenant groups with an expressed interest in pilot real estate projects while revitalizing the streetscape in recovering COVID-19 hotspots. The project’s geographic foci comprise four of the Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs) with the highest eviction filing rate across Harlem and the South Bronx: Central Harlem South (MN11, ~18%), Washington Heights (M36, ~20%), East Tremont (BX17, ~35%), and Claremont Village (BX30, ~38%).
Nelson De Jesus Ubri received his Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia GSAPP in 2021 and his BFA from Parsons the New School for Design in 2015. His professional experience comprises analytical research, real estate development and architectural design.
This proposal is being developed in conjunction with fellow Prize recipient Luis Miguel Pizano ‘21 MARCH MSRED.