About Me

Hi, my name is Amy. I am inspired by work that champions housing equity in the five boroughs and beyond, through affordable housing development, restoration, homeownership services, tenant advocacy, and economic development for marginalized communities.

My Info

Full Name
Amy Holodak
city
Scotch Plains, NJ
e-mail
amyholodak@gmail.com
occupation
Senior Project Manager at Neighborhood Restore

work experience

Apr 2018 - Present

Neighborhood Restore

Senior Project Manager
  • Collaborates with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) on multi-family housing preservation programs that foster neighborhood stabilization by renovating physically distressed properties into permanent affordable housing
  • Directs property management and pre-development activities for a portfolio of distressed housing clusters, approving building operations, reviewing monthly financial positions, coordinating emergency repairs, and facilitating productive tenant relations
  • Works with development partners, including for-and non-profit developers, architects, private lending institutions, and City agencies to assist in developing scopes of work, completing lender and legal due diligence, and ensuring projects reach construction loan closing
  • Reconciles developer accounts, including surpluses, deficits, waiver, building stabilization expenses, violations, liens and other direct costs, in preparation for the transfer of property
  • Manages organization-wide insurance portfolio, prepares annual renewal applications for all corporate and inventory policies, monitors loss runs, and prepares reports for the Board and program partners on insurance expenditures
  • Facilitates communication with adjustors, attorneys, and program partners regarding claims activity, building inspections, and third-party vendor insurance compliance
  • Prepares state and private grant applications project-specific and organization-wide, coordinates and submits reporting documents, requisitions funding with grantor organization, and ensures compliance with grant agreements
  • Oversees Project Manager team with parallel portfolios and responsibilities, providing guidance and streamlining internal processes
Aug 2017 - Dec 2017

Open Society Foundations

Program Administrative Specialist Contractor (New York, NY)
  • Provides administrative support to Fiscal Governance Program Director and staff
  • Submits, processes, and tracks contracts in Salesforce for vendors, consultants and grantee-partner organizations; updates and amends agreements as needed
  • Independently manages complex event planning, travel arrangements, logistics, budgets, and expense reports
  • Manages team calendars, arranges staff & partner-grantee organization travel, submits travel authorizations
Jun 2016 - Aug 2016

Manhattan Community Board 11 (East Harlem)

Constituent Services Representative Intern (New York, NY)
  • Completed 120-hour paid internship and independent study
  • Responded to and helped resolve constituent concerns related to public transportation, health and safety, housing access, and social services coordination
  • Conducted qualitative primary and secondary research regarding East Harlem Neighborhood Plan
  • Provided recommendations for successful plan implementation
Oct 2014 - Jun 2016

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City

Associate Program Manager (New York, NY)
  • Conducted psychosocial interviews and wrote clinical assessments of parents & youth, determining program eligibility
  • Supervised a caseload of 50 matches, providing on-going support, counseling, advocacy, referrals, and case management services, and monitoring for child safety
  • Facilitated quarterly self-esteem & diversity workshops for pre-teens from underserved Brooklyn communities
  • Client Recruitment Committee member; established school and CBO contact to increase female referrals
  • Completed Mentoring Supervisor Certification course
Mar 2014 - Sep 2014

Community Service Society of New York

Program Manager & Volunteer Coordinator (New York, NY)
  • Managed an intergenerational tutoring program, supervising 11 senior volunteers and 45 public school students
  • Prepared daily individualized lesson plans utilizing the Book Buddies system, documenting student growth in Salesforce
  • Conducted monthly volunteer training sessions and special classroom activities
  • Acted as a liaison between school staff, volunteers, and the agency
May 2012 - Feb 2014

Mary Ellen’s Specialty Fabrics

Executive Assistant & Sales Specialist (New York, NY)
  • Managed order fulfillment between top New York apparel companies and international textile suppliers
  • Introduced initiative reconnecting with business leads, returning a 30% increase in sales in 2013
  • Implemented QuickBooks solution, organizing and managed company’s bookkeeping
Dec 2010 - Apr 2012

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound

Enrollment & Match Specialist (Seattle, WA)
  • Facilitated enrollment, registration, and orientation of prospective families and volunteers in mentoring program
  • Conducted thorough home and office interviews of potential candidates, evaluating applications and processing final evaluations through clinical written assessments
  • Paired over 100 volunteers and youth in long-term mentoring relationships, exceeding agency match retention standards
Jul 2009 - Jul 2010

A-Class Academy

Supervisor & Kindergarten Teacher (Gunpo, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea)
  • Instructed over 100 Korean students ages 4-15 in private English language school
  • Promoted to Supervisor of Kindergarten program, assisting in the execution of the Grapeseed Curriculum
  • Provided teacher training for colleagues, international visiting teachers, and school administrative officials
Jan 2008 - Sep 2008

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Washington

Program Assistant (Bellingham, WA)
  • Promoted from Human Services Intern to part-time employment for School Based Mentoring Programs
  • Matched adult volunteers and students in mentoring relationships
  • Provided monthly support phone calls for the volunteers and in-person meetings with students
  • Coordinated match activities and end-of-year celebrations at 5 elementary and middle schools
Jan 2007 - Aug 2007

Children’s House International Adoptions

Administrative Assistant
  • Promoted from Human Services intern to full-time employment as Administrative Assistant to the Executive Director
  • Conveyed program and agency information to all prospective adoptive families
  • Liaised between adoptive families and international contacts
  • Oversaw all Secretarial and office upkeep duties

Education

2016 - 2017

Hunter College, The City University of New York

Master of Science, Urban Policy & Leadership (New York, NY)

GPA: 3.9

2005 - 2008

Western Washington University

Bachelor of Arts, Human Services (Bellingham, WA)

GPA 3.4

Jun 2016 - Aug 2016

Manhattan Community Board 11 (East Harlem)

Constituent Services Representative Intern (New York, NY)
  • Completed 120-hour paid internship and independent study
  • Responded to and helped resolve constituent concerns related to public transportation, health and safety, housing access, and social services coordination
  • Conducted qualitative primary and secondary research regarding East Harlem Neighborhood Plan
  • Provided recommendations for successful plan implementation

Portfolio

Community Land Trusts & Mutual Housing Associations

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Community Land Trusts & Mutual Housing Associations

Academic /

There are many existing housing programs in New York City aimed at affordability for low-income tenants. This paper will outline two particular programs known as the Tenant-Interim-Lease (TIL) Program and the Affordable Neighborhood Cooperative Program (ANCP) in order to assess their affordability for low-income New Yorkers and their ability to offer a long-term and cost-effective housing model. This research paper will present community land trusts (CLTs) and mutual housing associations (MHAs), as extensions of the TIL and ANCP programs, and alternative solutions to the affordable housing crisis in New York City. This paper will examine historical and current housing policies to provide context for the current system. The shortcomings of these policies will be discussed in order to explain the necessity of alternative policy implementation. A realistic approach to the shortcomings of our policy proposal will be discussed, as well as the roadblocks to implementation. We will look to examples of CLT and MHA enactment within New York City and nationwide in order to determine how it can be successfully replicated on a larger level.

Click here to download the PDF (5.1 MB)

Tenant Records and Evictions: A Policy Response for the Twenty-First Century

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Tenant Records and Evictions: A Policy Response for the Twenty-First Century

Academic /

By Amy Holodak

This report will address residential tenant evictions in New York City, their prevalence, and the deep and long-term impact that an eviction can have on a single tenant and his or her family. This report will discuss current and upcoming social services, legal aid, and tenant support programming that is being utilized to address the eviction problem for low-income and housing insecure New Yorkers. Finally, this report will address the eviction problem through the lens of tenant screening reports and record keeping in Housing Court, which are unreliable, inaccurate, and place tenants at a disadvantage for securing future housing. Finally, this report will offer several policy solutions: hold Housing Court responsible for the depth and reliability of content of the daily court schedule prior to handing over their information to tenant screening agencies, institute a reasonable tracking system containing specific demographic information of Housing Court litigants, offer Portable Screening Reports as an alternative to Tenant Screening Agencies, provide screening reports to all prospective tenants during the rental application process, and expunge housing court record if the tenant won the case.

Click here to download (830KB)

South Asian Small Business Initiative: Needs Assessment

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South Asian Small Business Initiative: Needs Assessment

Academic /

Hunter College Graduate students Adam Steele, Amy Holodak and Valerie Duchon participated in the following research project as a requirement for the Urban Development Workshop I course. William Spisak, Asset Building Manager for Chhaya Community Development Corporation, retained our services to conduct a needs assessment of immigrant small business owners in Jackson Heights, Queens.
Chhaya CDC seeks to expand their Small Business Development Initiative by providing comprehensive and relevant business support services, workshops, and trainings to local immigrant entrepreneurs and business owners. This needs assessment will address challenges South Asian business owners experience as well as how they seek assistance and support. This will help the agency to enhance current programming to help local businesses stay competitive and avoid displacement in the face of gentrification.

Click here to download the report (1.04MB)

East Harlem Neighborhood Plan: Next Steps for Economic Development and Community Participation

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East Harlem Neighborhood Plan: Next Steps for Economic Development and Community Participation

Academic /

By Amy Holodak

At the beginning of his term in 2014, Mayor de Blasio released his ten-year housing plan, “Housing New York,” to the public. Through the construction of mixed-use and mixed-income development, housing preservation, and neighborhood revitalization, the stated goal was to create or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing city-wide by 2025. In order to create the space necessary to reach this goal, over a dozen neighborhoods, including Hunters Point, Hamilton Heights, and Cypress Hills, have been identified as sites for major rezoning efforts (Housing New York, p. 30). Significant community investments, including an earmarked $1 billion, will be dispersed throughout these communities to help facilitate new projects (Navarro). East Harlem, along with Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, West Flushing in Queens, and East New York in Brooklyn, have been prioritized for the first round of rezoning.
Two years after the introduction of the Mayor’s housing plan, the East Harlem community stands on the cusp of major economic, developmental, and social changes. City planners have already begun surveying and identifying streets and avenues fit for rezoning. Phase Two of the Second Avenue subway line will begin construction within the next few years, with Phase One opening on January 1, 2017. El Barrio is evolving to keep pace with the development and population growth impacting all five boroughs.

Click here to download the report (76KB)

Interests

  • Non-Profits
  • Reading
  • Travel
  • Coffee
  • Hiking
  • Music

Photos

Contact Me

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