Mission Statement

A Project of the Harlem Consumer Education Council, Inc.

Under the leadership of its founder and president, Florence M. Rice and Directed by Marjorie Wyatt Moore, the Senior Tenants & Landlord Reconciliation Project established the following guiding principles:

We are committed to a community driven education process done in an inclusive manner—utilizing partnerships with City, State, Federal government agencies, private industry, community organizations, property owners, landlords, and other interested stakeholders to protect and educate the poor, disenfranchised and otherwise socially alienated segments of society about their consumer and housing rights in a democracy.

By establishing the Harlem Senior Tenants and Landlords Reconciliation Project, we affirm:

• The Harlem Senior Tenants and Landlords Reconciliation Project will address a range of issues related to seniors, but the primary focus will be on confronting the NYC housing crisis and its impact on the poor and senior citizens.
  
• In recent years, New York City has experienced a major shortage of affordable housing.
  
• The crisis has had a dramatic impact on the lives of black seniors and made dynamics between landlords and tenants more contentious.
  
• Many Harlem seniors have lived in and served this city for 30, 40, 50 years.
  
• Now, in their senior years when they should feel safe and secure in their homes, pragmatic, unsympathetic, “business as usual” economic decisions by landlords and property owners, threaten them with the highly likely possibility of eviction and homelessness which potentially destabilizes our communities.
  
• The Harlem Senior Tenants and Landlords Reconciliation Project intends to address public policy around the development of sustainable communities in which seniors are an intrinsic part, not an afterthought; where concerns about seniors health, safety and happiness are naturally occurring, integral parts of the community design, woven into the fabric of all economic decisions.
  
• The Center will use various education modalities to impart knowledge, heighten awareness of issues, and identify resources.
  
• At the national, state and city level, the Harlem Senior Tenants and Landlords Reconciliation Center will work with legislators, a network of partner community action agencies and organizations, and others organized around social policy issues, to inform and influence public policy.
  
• At the community level, Project staff will bring together constituent groups to address and settle differences through a conflict resolution process; with the goal of resolving issues quickly, at the lowest possible level, to avoid approaching the legal system as the “first step” when differences occur.
  
• Conflict resolution is a consensus-building process that will enable groups with differences to brainstorm together, reassess their respective positions in a trust-building, neutral environment and jointly construct workable solutions.
  
• The consensus-building approach, leading to mediation as a second step if differences remain unresolved, is specifically designed to be non-contentious, speedy, cost effective, and avoid the legal system whenever possible.
  
• The Harlem Senior Tenants and Landlords Reconciliation Project will be a “first stop” for any of the constituent groups desiring to know more about the laws and public policy governing the rights and responsibilities of each group; or need to initiate a conflict resolution process; or desire to participate in Project activities.
  
• The Harlem Senior Tenants and Landlords Reconciliation Project will establish formal linkages with senior groups in churches, nursing homes, and other sites where seniors gather.
  
• The Project has established linkages and cultivated relationships with geriatric specialists, social workers, medical, mental health and legal services, attorneys, employment specialists, food banks, law enforcement, and other community services, therefore can serve as an important “first stop” for landlords who need help contacting seniors who are not responding to written requests, for entry to make repairs for example, or are not answering the door or the telephone.
  
• The Harlem Senior Tenants and Landlords Reconciliation Project will develop, initiate, and analyze comprehensive environmental assessments of seniors and their living arrangements in order to make informed judgments about how best to provide support for the well-being of seniors.
  
• The Harlem Senior Tenants and Landlords Reconciliation Project is located at 550 West 155th Street, Church of the Intercession -- School Building. You can contact us by calling Marjorie Moore, Project Director at (212) 283-7011 or email HarlemSeniors@aol.com.