Met Council on Housing

The 2016 Inaugural and Annual Jane’s

On Thursday, December 15th, 2016, Met Council on Housing and Met Council Research and Educational Fund, Inc. will be holding The Inaugural 2016 Janes at our new office space located at the A.J. Muste Institute, 168 Canal Street, 6th Floor, NYC. The Janes are awards named in honor of tenant rights movement leaders Jane Wood, Jane Benedict, and Jane Jacobs

This year, Met Council is honoring:

• Graham Ciraulo is an Inwood resident and community leader with Northern Manhattan is Not for Sale Coalition/Coalición de Alto Manhattan No Se Vende which is fighting for a fair and just rezoning that will preserve and create real affordable housing. A rent regulated tenant and active member of his building’s tenant association, he is also organizing the battle against illegal apartment deregulation, fraudulent overcharges, and harassment. He is a parishioner of Good Shepherd and works with Centro Altagracia de Fe y Justicia and Faith in New York to organize Roman Catholic parishes uptown to fight for economic and housing justice.

• Edline Jacquet has worked in the housing, policy and advocacy fields for her entire career.This year, as part of her role as the Senior Policy Analyst at the Supportive Housing Network of NY, Edline was part of a large collective statewide effort through the Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing that won a historic commitment for the nation’s largest expansion of supportive housing. These City and State commitments will create 35,000 new units of supportive housing for homeless individuals and families with disabilities and other vulnerable populations throughout New York State. Edline is also an active board member of the Met Council on Housing and a long-time tenant in New York City."

• Jaron Benjamin is Vice President of Housing Works and was an Executive Director of Met Council on Housing and a former organizer with VOCAL-NY. Jaron is known for leading the fight for the 30% rent cap, securing rental assistance for all HIV+ New Yorkers and co-founding the Real Affordability for All Coalition bringing together labor and community groups to fight for truly affordable housing throughout NYC.

We hope that you will join us in expressing our collective gratitude to these phenomenal activists who have bravely fought against injustice. We also hope that you will share your gratitude for the Janes who have brought us rent stabilization and fought to preserve many of the neighborhoods in which we live, by purchasing a ticket and/or an ad in our commemorative journal.