PEERS

SCCI peers are New Yorkers rooted in local movements with solid organizing experience aiming to scale up their work and build capacity. Throughout the 15-month STUDY.PLAY.ACT program, peers exchange experiences and knowledge, collectively unpack urban processes, and workshop issues. Their journey culminates in projects in communities across the city that build upon peers’ existing work, practices, and grassroots movements.

SCCI’s Extended Peers and Project Advisors enrich the program through fostering knowledge-sharing among peers. They learn alongside and engage with peers, especially throughout the STUDY phase, and provide expertise, input, and feedback as they collaborate with peers on their respective capstone project development.

Black and white collage featuring a historic apartment building with fire escapes, and three people smiling; one raising a fist, all wearing casual or semi-formal attire.

Antoinette Martinez,
Genesis Aquino, and Rodrigo Camarena

TOPICS: Housing justice, Tenant rights, Immigrant rights

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Sunset Park

BOROUGH: Brooklyn

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Black and white image of a man with glasses and headphones and a smiling woman in front of urban buildings.

TOPICS: Housing justice, Tenant rights, Community land trusts

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Uptown

BOROUGH: Manhattan

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Avi Garelick
and Paloma Lara

Canal Street
Research Association

TOPICS: Cultural organizing, anti-gentrification, anti-displacement

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Chinatown,
Little Italy, Soho, TriBeCa

BOROUGH: Manhattan

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Black and white portrait of a woman with long hair standing outdoors near a tall building and trees.

Cheryl
Rivera

TOPICS: Abolition, Black liberation, mutual aid

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Crown Heights

BOROUGH: Brooklyn

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Black and white photo of three women standing in front of a cityscape with buildings and trees.

Chinatown
Art Brigade

TOPICS: Cultural organizing, public art, anti-gentrification, anti-displacement

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Chinatown

BOROUGH: Manhattan

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Black and white selfie of a smiling person with a cityscape and blooming trees in the background.

Maansi
Shah

TOPICS: Tenant rights, Housing justice

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Jamaica, Flushing

BOROUGH: Queens

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Person wearing glasses in front of a city skyline with skyscrapers, trees, and a body of water in the foreground. Black and white photo.

Quito
Ziegler

TOPICS: Indigenous rights, Anti-displacement, Environmental justice

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Far Rockaway

BOROUGH: Queens, Citywide

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Black and white photo of a man with a beard in front of an industrial bridge and an old building with arched windows.

Rodrigo
Brandão

TOPICS: Queer liberation, Immigrant rights, Filmmaking

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Jackson Heights

BOROUGH: Queens

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Black and white photo of a smiling woman in front of urban graffiti and industrial buildings.

Tania
Mattos

TOPICS: Abolition, Immigrant rights, Anti-gentrification, Environmental justice, Indigenous rights

NEIGHBORHOOD(S): Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst

BOROUGH: Queens

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

EXTENDED PEERS / PROJECT ADVISORS

Black and white portrait of a man with curly hair and a mustache, wearing a suit and tie, in front of layered urban street scenes.

Arpan
Somani

ROLE: Extended Peer / Project Advisor

TOPICS: Digital equity, Accessible technology

NEIGHBORHOODS: N/A

BOROUGH: Brooklyn, Citywide

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24

Black and white collage featuring a woman's portrait overlaid on urban garden and cityscape.

Cynthia
Tobar

ROLE: Extended Peer / Project Advisor

TOPICS: Oral history, Archival work, Filmmaking, Anti-gentrification, Anti-displacement, Public art

NEIGHBORHOODS: Bushwick, University Heights, Flushing

BOROUGH: Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx

COHORT YEAR: 2023-24