RADICAL LISTENING, COLLECTIVE IMAGINARIES

Starr Foundation Hall

Lower Level. Room UL201

Join us in this collective radical listening session of one of the last recorded conversations of the legendary housing activist and literary agent Frances Goldin, a force that unleashed an era marked by community organizing, political education, guerilla tactics, radical urban planning, and revolutionary change. Listeners will collectively reflect on the conditions that catalyzed the founding of the community land trust movement in New York City, and discuss how  current efforts are shaping the future we collectively envision.

Frances Goldin was a lifelong housing activist, literary agent, and social justice advocate whose tireless work helped shape the landscape of tenant rights and community-controlled housing in New York City. Over several decades, she fought against displacement, championed affordable housing, and amplified the voices of radical writers. Born on June 22, 1924, in Queens, New York, Frances Goldin grew up in a working-class family and became politically active at an early age. She was drawn to socialist and progressive movements, believing that systemic change was necessary to achieve justice. In the 1950s, she became involved in tenant organizing as the government’s urban renewal programs threatened to displace low-income residents of the Lower East Side.

In 1959, Goldin co-founded the Cooper Square Committee, a grassroots organization that fought against slum clearance and urban renewal projects designed to push out working-class residents in favor of high-rise developments. Under her leadership, the group developed the Cooper Square Community Land Trust, one of the first in the country, ensuring permanently affordable housing for residents. Her activism played a key role in preserving the Lower East Side as a neighborhood for working people, rather than allowing it to be overtaken by developers and gentrification.

In 1977, Goldin founded the Frances Goldin Literary Agency, where she represented authors committed to social justice, activism, and progressive change. Among her notable clients were Mumia Abu-Jamal, Barbara Kingsolver, Adrienne Rich, and Martin Duberman. She fought to ensure that radical and marginalized voices found a platform in mainstream publishing, often advocating for controversial but critical works

Goldin remained a fierce activist throughout her life, joining protests well into her 90s. She was a visible presence at movements like Occupy Wall Street, often holding signs that read, “I’m 90. Arrest me!” She continued to push for tenant rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and racial justice, never wavering in her commitment to radical change. She passed away on May 16, 2020, at the age of 95, leaving behind an indelible legacy in housing justice, publishing, and activism. Today, her work continues to inspire organizers, writers, and anyone fighting for a more just and equitable society.

MODERATORS

Lynn Lewis works at the intersection of community organizing, oral history, participatory action research and popular education. As the Executive Director of Picture the Homeless (PTH) she co-created PTH’s organizing methodology with founding members of the organization, and co-authored each of PTH’s participatory action research projects. She is a founder of the NYC Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI), a founding board member of the East Harlem/El Barrio Community Land Trust and a founding steering committee member of Communities United for Police Reform (CPR). At CPR, she co-chaired the policy and legislative workgroup, celebrating  the passage of landmark police reform legislation, the Community Safety Act in NYC.  

She holds an MA in Oral History from Columbia University, and was awarded an NEH/OHA Fellowship 2022/2023 for her work on the The Picture the Homeless Oral History Project. She is a trainer and advisor to the Housing Justice Oral History Project at the New School, and is collaborating with Voice of Witness in the development of a new oral history project, Unhoused Neighbors Speak Out. Recent publications include, Women Who Change the World  (City Lights, 2023) Love and Collective Resistance, The Picture the Homeless Oral History Project. Histoire Sociale / Social History. October 2020. On Redistributing Vacant Housing. Jewish Currents. October 2020, with Jenny Alchin, and Don’t Talk About Us, Talk With Us: Picture the Homeless, in Street Practice: Changing the Lens on Poverty and Public Assistance, with Lori McNeil. 2012. Lynn teaches at the New School in the Design and Urban Ecologies program, and the Advanced Seminar in Public and Urban Policy in Milano. Previous teaching experience includes Columbia University, Queens College and Hostos Community College and consults with grass roots organizations, community based and national organizations in New York City and nationally as a trainer and facilitator.

Gabriela Rendón is a Mexican-born urban planner, researcher, and educator committed to social and spatial justice. She is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Community Development and Founder Director of the Housing Justice Lab at The New School. Her expertise and research interests include community planning and design, socio-spatial restructuring of immigrant neighborhoods, rise and settlement of Latinx urban communities, housing and tenants rights, gentrification and displacement, cooperative housing models, as well as other collective and non-speculative housing development schemes providing equitable development in profit-driven urban environments. Rendón is cofounder of Urban Frontand Cohabitation Strategies. Over the last twenty years, she has worked in urban, housing, and community-based projects commissioned by art and cultural institutions, as well as municipalities and public agencies in diverse cities in Western Europe, North America, and South America. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Cooper Square Community Land Trust and The Shape of Cities to Come Institute. 

Rendón holds a Ph.D. in Spatial Planning and Strategy and an MS in Urbanism from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and a BS in Architecture from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico. Her work has been exhibited at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), the Portugal Triennial 2016, the Vienna Biennale 2015, the Istanbul Design Biennial 2012, and the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam. She is the author and co-editor of a number of publications. Her latest publication Cohabitation Strategies: Visions and Actions for the Co-Production of Social Space (ORO Editions, 2025) will be released in Spring 2025. She is currently working on the book Defiant Neighborhoods: Rise, Revitalization, and Gentrification of Immigrant Communities in Latinx Brooklyn(NYU Press, forthcoming 2026) and co-editing along with Silvia Emanuelli De Gruyter Handbook for Housing Justice (De Gruyter, forthcoming 2007).