Buck EnnisShola Olatoye, the co-author of this op-ed, is the is chair andchief executive of the New York City Housing Authority.

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Op-Ed

Opening doorways to opportunity in publichousingNew York City Housing Authority residents have the drive to succeed. Now they'll get the education,capital and affordable space needed to do so.

Shola Olatoye and Rasmia Kirmani-Frye

Published: August 7, 2015 - 12:01 am

Across New York, public-housing residents havecalled for increased access to the services andsupport needed for economic mobility. New YorkCity Housing Authority residents make up more than5% of the city's population—nearly equal to thepopulation of Boston. Ensuring they have paths tofinancial improvement is one key to creating a moreequitable, livable city.

We are on our way toward bridging the gap betweenpublic-housing residents and the rest of the city. Ourstrategic plan, NextGeneration NYCHA, will createsafe, clean and connected communities for all NewYorkers. It calls for creative public-private

partnerships that can link public-housing residents to economic opportunities within theirneighborhoods.

Citi and NYCHA have partnered to launch Doorways to Opportunity, a $1.4 million suite of programsthat will provide our residents access to employment training, jobs, financial counseling, taxpreparation and business-development support. NYCHA's Office of Resident EconomicEmpowerment and Sustainability (REES) has developed the Zone Model, a partnership-based servicedelivery approach that is scalable, replicable and reflective of the needs of a specific neighborhood.Through Doorways to Opportunity, NYCHA and Citi are harnessing the Zone Model to partner with

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local organizations already engaged with residents.

Five aspects of Doorways to Opportunity are unique to this initiative:

First, we are targeting specific REES Zones to ensure that programs are responsive to the needs ofthose communities and can build trust organically and locally.

Second, we are partnering with community organizations that have deep experience in theseneighborhoods and the know-how to execute innovative, complex programs. They includeBrownsville Partnership, Urban Upbound, University Neighborhood Housing Program, Food Bankfor New York City and Hot Bread Kitchen.

Third, we are embedding services into existing platforms and relationships, employing a holisticstrategy.

Fourth, each program is driven by a cross-sector partnership, knitting together the work of multipleagencies—from the Department of Small Business Services to the Economic Development Corp. andCenter for Economic Opportunity—to leverage all existing resources.

Fifth, we aim to build models for success. This is important, because we envision Doorways toOpportunity as a model for public-private partnership.

The programs in this initiative employ a range of program designs. Some have never been applied inthe public-housing sector before, while others enhance NYCHA's existing work to open paths toopportunity through wrap-around services. They include entrepreneurship training, a workers'cooperative, a jobs-creation campaign, financial counseling and a portal that enables our residents toeasily connect to services.

The impact of Doorways to Opportunities is already evident in Food Business Pathways, ourentrepreneurship program. The first cohort of 20 students graduated in March, and five of them arealready working to launch businesses in Hot Bread Kitchen's incubator. The second group of studentsstarted in May. By the end of the year, we plan to have graduated 90 food entrepreneurs who willlaunch businesses in their neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, hiring localpeople and bringing more dollars into the local economy.

Programs like Food Business Pathways are customized to the needs of public-housing residents. It isthe first programmatic solution to incorporate all three elements that our resident entrepreneurs("NYCHApreneurs") reported are crucial to their success in a 2013 survey: education, access tocapital and affordable space. Food Business Pathways knits these needs together with many of thestrategies we have found to be most effective in serving residents.

NYCHA resident Clinton Shabazz, better known as the Harlem Pie Man, participated last fall in thepilot program on which Food Business Pathways is based; now he's not only selling his trademarkpeach cobbler and pecan pies in local markets and online, but has also just been selected as a WholeFoods vendor.

Such programs would not be a success if Citi and NYCHA did not collaborate to leverage the

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strengths of a variety of organizations, creating a comprehensive, coordinated solution to address thestudents' needs, from education to space to capital. We have made services more cost-efficient througha sustainable strategy that utilizes the strengths of a cross-sector, cross-industry partnership. Togetherwe have opened doors to opportunities for underserved individuals in public housing to make betterlives for themselves and enrich their communities and New York City in the process.

Shola Olatoye is chair and chief executive of the New York City Housing Authority. RasmiaKirmani-Frye is the agency's director of public-private partnerships.

Entire contents ©2015 Crain Communications Inc.

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