fighting for

housing justice

against gentrification & displacement

Our Mission

CoRe is a community-based law office that partners with communities of color in Brooklyn and Queens to combat predatory capitalism, gentrification and structural racism. We join our clients in the struggle to organize, assert their rights, and protect their homes. We work to ensure that community voices are centered in the decisions that impact their lives and neighborhoods. Ours is a resistance that plays out both inside the courtroom and on the streets, as we fight alongside those we serve to dismantle systemic injustice.

Our Work.

Communities Resist works closely with a network of over 20 community-based partners that organize tenants in Brooklyn and Queens to actively represent 110 tenant associations and over 2,250 individuals in both boroughs: from Williamsburg, Bushwick, East New York, and Brownsville in Brooklyn to Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Ridgewood in Queens. Ours is a resistance that plays out both inside the courtroom and on the streets, as we fight alongside those we serve to dismantle systemic injustice. As COVID-19 has devastated the neighborhoods we serve, further exacerbating glaring racial and economic disparities in this city, our services are rapidly expanding to meet an ever growing and urgent need.

Read a recent feature about us in a local Bushwick paper and a recent story on our work against one of the worst landlords in the city

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Our Victories.

374 Wallabout

In 2018, the tenants were vacated from their homes because of severe harassment by their landlord. With our partners at Los Sures, we have represented them for years in this struggle in the deeply segregated Broadway Triangle.

149-43 35th Avenue

Our client is one of the only rent stabilized tenants left in this building. With Korean Community Services, we have fought the landlord’s attempts to illegally evict him and to get repairs to his home that are years overdue.

Broadway Triangle Struggle

Our decade-long litigation set precedent citywide in demonstrating how City rezonings are proceeding in blatant violation of fair housing laws.

196 Huron

For over two decades, the tenants have dealt with unimaginable conditions and a landlord trying to empty and then sell the building. With St Nick’s Alliance organizing, the tenants went on rent strike and are litigating to take the building away from this slumlord.

1362 Decatur

Our clients are seniors and families with small children, who went on an organized rent strike for two years. Their building had 273 violations, no heat, hot water, or gas. Together, we forced the landlord to restore services and give them leases.

321 Harman

In November 2020, the landlord of 321 Harman cut off the tenants’ heat, hot water and gas just before Thanksgiving to illegally force them out. With our clients, we mounted a public pressure campaign and litigation to safely restore their services.

395 Linden

After years of harassment by their landlord, our clients organized in 2019 and successfully sought a court-appointed administrator to take over the building. They are now looking forward to the repairs and safe conditions denied to them for years.
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Our Team.

Dylan Arturo
Organizer
Ariel Ashtamker
Staff Attorney
Andy Aujla
Director of Advocacy and External Affairs
Sam Chiera
Litigation Specialist
Bruno Daniel
Coalition Strategist
Dennis Donnelly
Staff Attorney
Christina Jones
Senior Staff Attorney
Areeb Khan
Law School Graduate, NY Bar Admission Pending
Shekar Krishnan
Chief Program Officer
Lina Lee
Executive Director
Corina Lozada
Staff Attorney
Carmen Manzano
Grant Associate
Adam Meyers
Director of Litigation
Rachel Nager
Senior Staff Attorney
Michelle Perez
Operations Associate
Marilia Richards
Staff Attorney
Stephanie Rudolph
Director of Fair Housing and Supervising Attorney
Milagros Sandoval
Director of Organizing
Fran Taveras
Paralegal
Kevin Worthington
Staff Attorney

Our Board.

Barbara Schliff
President
Juan Ramos
Vice President
John Whitlow
Secretary

Events

September
17

Tenants’ Rights Workshop

6:30pm EST
Join us over Zoom to learn about your rights, receive updates about the eviction moratorium, and discuss how to organize your building to support your neighbors!
Email to register
Event flyer
September
23

Virtual Housing Workshop

7pm – 8:30pm EST
Join us for a virtual housing workshop with Southside United HDFC and St. Nicks Alliance in English and Spanish. Housing rights and recent updates on rent relief, eviction moratorium, and housing court re-openings in NYC and how to obtain legal services for low-income tenants.
RSVP here
August
19

PAST EVENT: Housing Workshop with Undocumented Women’s Fund

7pm – 8:30pm EST
Conducted housing rights workshop for undocumented women in Brooklyn and Queens.
RSVP here

Our Feed.