"Ideas for a Stronger and More Equitable Queens"
A Center for an Urban Future Policy Symposium

Replay of event
Event materials

On March 5, 2026, over 230 people attended or tuned in to “Ideas for Creating a Stronger and More Equitable Queens,” a half-day symposium focused on generating innovative and actionable policy ideas for Queens' future. Organized by the Center for an Urban Future, and sponsored by the Thomas and Jeanne Elmezzi Private Foundation and Verizon, the unique event included: eleven three-minute idea pitches from leaders across the borough; a session where more than 18 Queens-based leaders who were members of our audience each shared a single idea for creating a stronger and more equitable borough; a fireside chat featuring Queens Borough President Donovan Richards; a panel featuring City Council Deputy Speaker Dr. Nantasha Williams, Council Member Shanel Thomas-Henry, and Council Member Julie Won; and a panel featuring five of Queens’ top community leaders--Nilbia Coyote, Jeehae Fischer, Annetta Seecharran, Bishop Mitchell G. Taylor, and Dennis Walcott.

The event built on our May 2024 report, 50 Ideas for a Stronger and More Equitable Queens, which featured bold policy ideas from a diverse mix of 50 exceptional Queens residents for what city leaders can do to create a stronger and more equitable Queens.

The full replay of the event is available here.

 The event generated dozens of interesting ideas for creating a stronger and more equitable Queens. The three-minute idea pitches from Queens-based leaders included:

• Pilot a massive summer school program in Queens to help students catch up from pandemic learning loss.
  - Kenneth Adams, President, LaGuardia Community College
   
• Host “Celebrate Queens” events to draw visitors to the borough’s unique businesses and cultural venues.
  - Yanki Tshering, Founder & Executive Director, Accompany Capital
   
• Offer education at every food pantry.
  - Pedro Rodriguez, Executive Director, La Jornada
   
• Establish the first-ever Queens Community Foundation.
  - Seth Bornstein, Former Executive Director, Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) 
   
• Create a new housing subsidy program and take other action to address the affordable housing crisis for Queens older adults.
  - William Jourdain, Executive Director, Woodside on the Move
   
• Incentivize tech businesses to come to Queens to develop the borough as a tech center.
  - Thomas Grech, President & CEO, Queens Chamber of Commerce
   
• Create a 10-year vision for Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
  - John Wang, Founder, Queens Night Market
   
• Incorporate arts and culture as standard infrastructure in city planning.
  - Karesia Batan, Founding Executive Director, Queensboro Dance Festival
   
• Invite health professionals into Queens high schools to help more young people get interested in pursuing medical careers.
  - Lorraine Chambers Lewis, SVP & President, Northwell - LIJ Forest Hills Hospital
   
• Help churches and other religious institutions build affordable housing on unused land.
  - Ben Thomases, CEO, Queens Community House
   
• Create a fund for community-based outpatient mental health clinics that serve low-income immigrants including those without insurance.
  - Kevin Cho, Senior Immigration & Policy Advisor, Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (KCS)

The event also included an extended session where members of the audience shared their own ideas for the borough’s future. The following are abbreviated summaries of these audience ideas. To hear the full comments/ideas, please watch the event video. Audience ideas included: ​

• Organize neighborhood “Kids Speak” events to give Queens children and teens a space for their ideas to be heard.
  - Andre Stith, Community & School Engagement Coordinator, Zone 126
   
• Expand healthcare access by bringing a transplant center to Queens, the only borough that does not currently have one.
  - Pia Rahman, Queens Community Board 2
   
• Improve transit in the borough by making use of elevated subway lines to link to LaGuardia airport.
  - Ravi Chandran, Rego Park resident
   
• Strengthen families’ food security by allowing schools to turn leftover meals from breakfast and lunch into take-home food that students can bring with them at the end of the day.
  - Jonathan Forgash, Founder, Queens Together
   
• Address the joint crises of affordability and isolation by creating intergenerational housing where, for a reduced cost, young and senior New Yorkers can live together.
  - Shyvonne Noboa, Associate Executive Director of Older Adult Services, Sunnyside Community Services
   
• Put Queens on the women’s healthcare map by opening a birth center—the first in the borough, the third in the city, and the ninth in the state.
  - Charline Mitchell, Birth By Queens
   
• Protect the borough’s industrial sector by accounting for it in rezoning and development plans, like the IBX and the LICP, and balance this with the need for housing in future policy.
  - Lou Venech, Living New Deal, NYC Chapter
   
• Expand access to food and support local farmers by establishing a network of grocery stores offering affordable, fresh, and nutritious produce to Queens families.
  - Kim Calichio, Founder, The Connected Chef
   
• Protect immigrants, a vital part of (and resource for) Queens.
  - Sal Lopizzo, Executive Director, Veteran in Command
   
• Support local businesses with modest city funding to reinvigorate commercial corridors with more than chain stores and franchises.
  - Sal Lopizzo, Executive Director, Veteran in Command
   
• Create a green corridor in Woodside, where kids can walk safely to and from school, by making the Open Street along 34th Avenue permanent.
  - Jim Burke, Co-Founder, 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition
   
• Create an interconnected Open Streets network where New Yorkers of all ages and abilities can walk, run, bike, or wheel around and between their neighborhoods.
  - Jim Burke, Co-Founder, 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition
   
• Establish neighborhood tech support centers to offer workforce development for young people, who can then partner with small local businesses to meet their digital needs.
  - Ying Zhou, executive director, Tech Incubator at Queens College
   
• Prevent displacement by establishing community land trusts in minority neighborhoods that can offset the rise in rent and property values produced by a major development—like a casino—coming to their area.
  - Vivian Liu, Urban Institute
   
• Harness funding from New York’s tech companies to organize neighborhood hackathons, bringing tech workforce development directly to communities.
  - Jose Garcia, LeanIn NYC
   
• Restore the Queens branch of the Toastmasters Club to bring leadership and communication skills to borough residents of all ages.
  - Jose Garcia, LeanIn NYC
   
• Leverage state funding to open ownership opportunities for tenants, making sure they are democratically governed, deeply affordable, and permanently affordable.
  - Samantha Kattan, Director of Contracts, Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
   
• Deprivatize parts of the city’s public health and hospital system—for example, restore in-person interpreters as union positions rather than contract with companies that provide stripped-down digital translation services—to create more jobs, retain current providers, and improve healthcare access.
  - Damien Archbold, Anesthesiologist, Elmhurst Hospital
   
• Establish a Queens Arts Council to offer greater operational support to arts organizations working all over the borough.
  - Natalie Bedon, Project Manager, Flushing Town Hall
   
• Improve transit access—and reduce commute times—by restoring the Rockaway Beach Branch to create the borough’s first north-south subway, following a “trails and rails” model that can connect residents with major transit options and create new parks and bike lanes along the right-of-way.
  - Rick Horan, Executive Director, QueensLink
   
• Create a Queens workforce-to-homeownership pipeline, establishing a credit union that can help essential workers own their homes and offer repair grants for home maintenance costs.
  - Makeda Laundry
   

The event also featured:

• An energetic fireside chat with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards;
   
• A dynamic panel with Queens elected officials:
  • Deputy Speaker Dr. Nantasha Williams
  • Council Member Shanel Thomas-Henry
  • Council Member Julie Won
    ​
• And a panel discussion with community leaders:
  • Nilbia Coyote, Executive Director & CEO, New Immigrant Community Empowerment
  • Jeehae Fischer, Executive Director, The Korean American Family Service Center
  • Annetta Seecharran, Executive Director, Chhaya Community Development Corporation
  • Bishop Mitchell G. Taylor, Co-Founder & CEO, Urban Upbound; Senior Pastor, The Center of Hope International
  • Dennis Walcott, President & CEO, Queens Public Library

A video of the full event is available here.

This event was made possible thanks to generous support from the Thomas and Jeanne Elmezzi Private Foundation and Verizon. We are also grateful for general support from The Clark Foundation and the Altman Foundation, support from Fisher Brothers Foundation for CUF's Middle Class Jobs Project, and ongoing support from a number of other philanthropic funders. The ideas advanced during the event are not endorsed by the Center for an Urban Future or our sponsors.