NY1 News Interviews Sam Marks & Bronx Pastor on NYLOP Launch

Pastor T. Anne Daniel of Wakefield Grace speaking with LISC NYC Executive Director Sam Marks and Community Development Officer Grace Chung in the Bronx. Wakefield Grace is one of five churches selected for the first pilot cohort of NYLOP.

NY1 News reported on the first cohort to participate in LISC NYC’s New York Land Opportunity Program (NYLOP). A first-of-its kind program, NYLOP will help mission-driven organizations with limited real estate experience to create joint venture partnerships to develop affordable or supportive housing on their underutilized land.

The interview featured Wakefield Grace United Methodist Church in the Bronx—one of five churches that was selected. LISC NYC is piloting this program in partnership with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.  

“This program is designed, not just to help [the churches] turn their land into affordable housing but to help them maintain their status as key anchors in the neighborhood,” said Sam Marks in an interview with NY1 News.

NYLOP will strengthen the churches’ ability to remain vital institutions in their neighborhoods, even as significant change is taking place around them. In addition to building housing, the churches will continue offering community programs that address the needs of youth, seniors and those struggling with hunger, poverty and homelessness in their neighborhoods.

Watch the NY1 News video here.

NYLOP was also featured in the Wall Street Journal. Read the story excerpt here.

Congratulations to the NYLOP grantees!

• The Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist in Murray Hill, Manhattan
• St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, in the Bronx
• Shiloh Church of Christ in Harlem, Manhattan
• Wakefield Grace United Methodist Church in Wakefield, Bronx
• St. John’s Global Ministries, near downtown Jamaica, Queens

NYLOP is a LISC NYC partnership with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.

This program is made possible through the generous support of Booth Ferris Foundation, along with BankUnited, Deutsche Bank, M&T Bank, and Santander Bank.

Special thanks to our program partners: Goldstein Hall and Edelman Sultan Knox Wood / Architects.