About
My name is Elyssa White and I am a 22 year old woman currently living in New York City and working as a low-income tenant organizer for The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. With UHAB, I research and identify the causes and spaces where units of affordable housing are put at risk. After identifying problems, I help develop strategies to support tenant associations and leaders. These strategies frequently include door-to-door canvassing, leafleting, speaking at tenant association meetings, finding legal representation, creating informational materials, reaching out to organizations and politicians, planning press events, and motivating tenants towards direct action.
As a result of my work for UHAB and because of my desire to contribute to a more socially just and liberated society, I have become familiar with landlord/tenant legislation and the role of financial institutions and banks in exacerbating the problems faced by the low-income tenants for whom I advocate. As part of my work, I have helped make Predatory Equity a national issue and continue to seek out press, politicians, and tenant support to make changes on the local and national levels.
While working at UHAB, I have also taken part in Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps as an Avodah fellow. With Avodah, I spend at least ten hours a week discussing race, class, power, Judaism, and social change methods. Also as an Avodah Corps Member, I have spent the last year living with 17 Jewish women all working for different anti-poverty organizations. Through conversations with my fellow corps members, I have become more aware of the different ways that poverty and social issues intersect, and I have also become more invested in my belief and desire to work in grassroots organizing.
Before working with UHAB, most of my work experience involved using new media technologies to organize people and raise awareness about current events. While this experience working for Variety Magazine, Jewish Milestones, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, The Davis Feminist Film Festival, Sickpits Spoken Word Collective, and California State Summer School for the Arts may seem unrelated, it has been useful to me as I strategize ways to engage media and politicians around anti-poverty issues.
I am dedicated to working with a diverse set of communities because I believe that all individuals have their liberation tied up in the liberation of others. This dedication is most visible through my work with UHAB, my involvement in Avodah, and deeply-held belief that we must invest in change from the grassroots-up.
I am inspired by the people and the changes I have seen and helped forge through grassroots organizing and I would like to continue my work in California. I am always looking for allies, collaborators, friends, and fans. If you are interested in working together in any capacity – please contact me at: contact@elyssawhitefilms.com.