THE COOPERATORS: STORYTELLING AS A TOOL FOR ORGANIZING

DOCUMENTARY AND DIALOGUE

Tuesday, September 10th at 6:00pm
NYU Jerry H. Labowitz Theater, 1st Floor of Gallatin
1 Washington Place, New York, NY

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Don’t miss this special documentary screening and dialogue where Housing Justice Lab’s members Lynn Lewis and Rob Robinson will participate. The event will kick off with The Cooperators, a 35-minute documentary film based on the oral histories of residents at Penn South, a 10-building complex built by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in Chelsea in 1962. Today, Penn South stands as one of the last affordable housing enclaves in Manhattan. Following the screening, join us for a powerful conversation on how storytelling can serve as a tool for organizing and shaping the future of affordable housing. Speakers include Olive Eng, Christian Bird, and Eric Darton from the Penn South Archive Project, retired ILGWU Local 23-25 Manager and International Vice President May Ying Chen, as well as Lynn Lewis and Rob Robinson, actively engaged in the Housing Justice Lab’s Housing Justice Oral History Project.

ABOUT PENN SOUTH ARCHIVE PROJECT

The Penn South Archive Project was launched in Spring 2022. Their first step was to train cooperators to interview ‘The Originals’, cooperators who moved into Penn South in 1962. The response to the project was enthusiastic and today the committee includes cooperators aged 15 to 92 years old. Oral history recordings of original cooperators have been expanded to include artists and multi-generational families. The collection now includes material culture, the photographs, documents and memorabilia of cooperators. The digital archive of oral histories and images continues to grow and is publicly available on our website. The Penn South Archive Project is an initiative of the PSSS Education Committee and the PSSS Board. For more information, click here.

This event has been organized by Natalia Shevin in collaboration with Penn South Social Services, the Urban Democracy Lab, and Penn South Archive Project.