Hester Street Collaborative is an urban planning nonprofit that partners with municipal governments, community organizations, and other institutions to direct their infrastructure projects towards left-of-center social and environmental goals, which include group equality of outcome, taxpayer-funded housing subsidies, and reduced use of conventional fuels. Hester Street Collaborative is named after its primary office address on Hester Street in New York City. ¹

The collaborative has received significant funding from the Ford Foundation, one of the most influential grant making organizations in the United States and a top funder of left-leaning activist projects. ² It has also received grants from the Surdna Foundation and from the taxpayer-funded National Endowment for the Arts. ^{3 4}

Initiatives

Hester Street Collaborative’s projects have included land use seminars for municipal officials, racial-minority business-networking initiatives, voter-mobilization campaigns, community centers, art exhibitions, public surveys, and investments in community colleges. ⁵ In New York City, this has also included partnering with the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs to map a “cultural plan” of the city, as well as helping design a park on the Lower East Side. ^{6 7}

In March 2022, Hester Street published an assessment of the relationship between race and housing policy from a left-of-center perspective with the backing of the Ford Foundation. The report examined the impact of the Foundation’s housing work. It concluded that race and power structures created housing inequalities, and included guidance for activists and grant makers. ⁸

Controversies

Hester Street Collaborative has provided community outreach services to Alembic Community Development, a New York City-based housing and retail property corporation. In 2018, a deal between the developer and the city of Newburgh, New York prompted protests for allegedly failing to guarantee future tax revenue. Opponents of the project called for a member of the approval committee, whose husband has received recognition from Hester Street Collaborative and who works for the Ford Foundation, which funds the collaborative, to recuse herself from voting on the proposal. ⁹

Leadership

Eva Alligood is the executive director of the Hester Street Collaborative. She previously worked as the senior director for partnerships and programs at the New York affiliate of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which funds low-income housing projects, left-of-center activist groups, and programs promoting the interests of racial minority groups. Like Hester Street, the corporation has received support from the Ford Foundation. Alligood received a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College, as well as a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the Pratt Institute. ¹⁰

Kristen Chin is the director of community economic development at Hester Street. Like Alligood, she was previously affiliated with the Pratt Institute, having worked for the Pratt Center for Community Development. Chin received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and her master’s degree in architecture from the Parsons School of Design. ^{11 12}

Isella Ramirez is the director of community engagement and capacity building at Hester Street. A career anti-conventional-energy advocate, she has worked for environmentalist groups in the Los Angeles, California area and in Newark, New Jersey. Ramirez received a bachelor’s degree in Latin American and Latino Studies from Vassar College, as well as a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of California Los Angeles. ¹³

Financials

In 2021, Hester Street Collaborative received more than $2.1 million in contributions and grants, as well as nearly $3 million in program service revenue. That year, the organization’s net assets totaled more than $2.4 million. ¹⁴

The Ford Foundation is a major backer of Hester Street Collaborative. Between 2018 and 2022, the foundation awarded a total of more than $2.7 million to the collaborative. ¹⁵ The Surdna Foundation has also provided significant funding to Hester Street, awarding the collaborative a grant of more than $1.2 million in 2019 and another grant of more than $2.8 million in 2022. ¹⁶ In addition, Hester Street has also received at least $40,000 from the taxpayer-funded National Endowment for the Arts. ¹⁷

1.  “About.” Hester Street. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://hesterstreet.org/about/
2. “Grants Database – Hester Street.” Ford Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=hester+street
3. “Grants Database – Hester Street.” Surdna Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://surdna.org/grants-database/?grantsSearch=hester+street
4. “Hester Street To Receive $40,000 Grant From The National Endowment For The Arts.” Hester Street. January 11, 2022. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://hesterstreet.org/hester-street-to-receive-40000-grant-from-the-national-endowment-for-the-arts/
5. “Projects.” Hester Street. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://hesterstreet.org/projects/
6. “Hester Street Collaborative for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.” Pratt Institute. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.pratt.edu/research/spatial-analysis-visualization-initiative/featured-projects/hester-street-collaborative-for-the-new-york-city-department-of-cultural-affairs/
7. Carrie Hojnicki. “Hester Street Collaborative crafts a new park on NYC’s Lower East Side.” Architectural Digest. July 31, 2014. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/hester-street-collaborative-park
8.  “Race, Place and Power.” Hester Street. March 2022. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/jcr-program-evaluation-april-2022.pdf
9. Leonard Sparks. “Newburgh Council under fire over $70M project.” Times Herald-Record. September 6, 2018. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2018/09/06/newburgh-council-under-fire-over/10827658007/
10. “Eva Neubauer Alligood.” Hester Street. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://hesterstreet.org/team/eva-neubauer-alligood/
11. “Kristen Chin.” Hester Street. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://hesterstreet.org/team/kristen-chin/
12. “Eva Neubauer Alligood.” Hester Street. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://hesterstreet.org/team/eva-neubauer-alligood/
13. “Isella Ramirez.” Hester Street. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://hesterstreet.org/team/isella-ramirez/
14. Hester Street Collaborative, Inc. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2021Accessed August 10, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/200774906/202223199349318357/full
15. ^[1]“Grants Database – Hester Street.” Ford Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=hester+street
16. ^[1]“Grants Database – Hester Street.” Surdna Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://surdna.org/grants-database/?grantsSearch=hester+street
17. “Hester Street To Receive $40,000 Grant From The National Endowment For The Arts.” Hester Street. January 11, 2022. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://hesterstreet.org/hester-street-to-receive-40000-grant-from-the-national-endowment-for-the-arts/