HCHC program leaders will provide education and analysis of housing issues and the housing justice movement and help teens place their experiences into a broader historical and socio-political context through a social justice-centered pedagogy. Working artists will teach media production skills so teens can creatively address and express the issues that matter to them. Hands-on experience, mentorship, and instruction from these industry professionals will give teens a competitive edge for paid internships, college scholarships, and media jobs. Danny Fogler will teach hip hop songwriting, Otto Ohle will teach videography, Claire Cousin and Mercedes Brantley will lead housing justice curriculum, and Molly Stinchfield will teach photography. Teens will record music and audio at Youth Clubhouses of Columbia-Greene Counties.

Danny Fogler aka DOPEBWOY MENACE is a Hip Hop artist born and raised in Harlem, NY with nine years experience making music. He leads the Tracks program at Youth Clubhouse, teaching songwriting and music engineering to empower young people in his community.

Otto Ohle (b. 1993, Hudson NY) is a multimedia artist working on photography, video, and design. As a youth educator he has led workshops at The Prattsville Art Center, MHA Youth Clubhouse, Catskill Wheelhouse, and Powrplnt. 

Claire Cousin and Mercedes Brantley will lead discussions on Black empowerment, social justice organizing, and local housing and racial justice issues. Claire Cousin is a 28 year old single mother of three and a long-time activist, organizer, and youth advocate in Hudson, NY. As a founding member of HCHC, she provides mentorship for tomorrow’s leaders and fights alongside them for social and racial justice, always working to instill a sense of self-worth, passion and purpose. Mercedes Brantley is a life-long Catskill community member working to create affordable housing and safe youth spaces in the community. She organized the unifying Enough is Enough March in the summer of 2020, motivating the Working Families Party to endorse in an Upstate village election for the first time in their party’s history. 

Molly Stinchfield is an activist, educator, and photographer documenting HCHC’s housing justice movement. She received her MFA in Photography and Media from CalArts, has exhibited nationally, and has published photographs in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Art Voices, Z!NK, Whitehot Magazine, and Misadventures Magazine. She is a Co-Founder of Freehold Art Exchange.

HCHC is a Black-led initiative that empowers public housing and low-income tenants to fight for housing justice. Our definition of visionary is to empower tenants and the next generation of leaders to bring about a world where their lives matter. We envision a world where care and collective power will replace the forces of austerity, policing, criminalization, and abandonment of our communities. We value housing as a human right, and protecting that right demands investment in collective life and thriving in a way that will transform society fundamentally. We organize with our neighbors for grassroots power and self-governance that grows from our deep local roots and connections.