2020 Annual Luncheon

The Peninsula LLC, Gilbane Development, The Hudson Companies, and Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY), are honored for the Peninsula, a mixed-use development bringing 740 units of affordable housing to the Hunts Point neighborhood at the former site of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center.

The Peninsula is a mixed-use development project by Gilbane Development, The Hudson Companies, and Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY) bringing affordable housing and community benefits to the Hunts Point neighborhood. Upon completion, the 5-acre campus will provide 740 units of 100% affordable housing, including permanently affordable units and units reserved for formerly homeless families, along with open space, retail, light industrial, and community facility space.

The Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, The Peninsula is the redevelopment of the former site of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, a facility notorious for its harsh treatment of youth and substandard living conditions throughout 50 years of operation. After community organizing efforts finally led to its closure in 2011, the shuttered center stood as a daily reminder to local residents, of harms inflicted upon their community and detainees, the majority of whom were young males of color, and of the negative stigma associated with South Bronx neighborhoods faced with the impacts of disinvestment and decades of municipal neglect.

In 2016, the site of the former center was awarded for redevelopment to Gilbane, Hudson, and MHANY, along with their community partners The Point CDC and Urban Health Plan, through an RFEI competition hosted by the NYC Economic Development Corporation and NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The project team’s winning submission reflected the priorities and needs of the Hunts Point community, as had been expressed by local residents and stakeholders through extensive community engagement.

Along with affordable housing for a diverse range of New Yorkers, The Peninsula includes a mix of uses that will drive local business growth and job creation, support critical neighborhood service providers, and help anchor Hunts Point as New York City’s primary hub for food manufacturing. Many anticipated retail, commercial, and industrial tenants are Bronx-based organizations operating in and around Hunts Point, including Il Forno Bakery, Bascom Catering, Hunts Point Brewing Company, and Lightbox New York film studio. The expansive campus will preserve and expand an on-site Head Start facility, including a dedicated new playground, and provide space for higher education, co-working, and small business incubation. Lead community sponsor Urban Health Plan will operate a new, 18,000 sf health and wellness center out of the new space, connecting residents with quality primary and specialty health care services and employing emerging health-tech professionals.

The Peninsula team broke ground on the project in Fall of 2019. With construction now underway, The Peninsula is slated for development in three phases and expected for completion in 2024.

Joseph J. Salvo, Chief Demographer at NYC Department of City Planning, received the Ibo Balton Award for Community Planning for dedicating his career to public service, and for his contributions to identifying and meeting the needs of New Yorkers.

For the past 25 years, Dr. Joseph J. Salvo has served as Chief Demographer and Director of the Population Division at NYC Department of City Planning, where he held a variety of roles beginning in 1982. Before joining City government, Dr. Salvo obtained his M.A. and PhD in Sociology at Fordham University, trained in research at the National Institute for Mental Health, and worked at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Dr. Salvo has played a vital role in ensuring that neighborhood and community needs can be accurately identified. Dr. Salvo has been involved in four U.S. Census enumerations in New York City. Under his leadership, the Population Division has directly impacted the content and methods used in the American Community Survey, the primary data source for community demographics. Dr. Salvo has directed New York City’s technical strategy for the 2020 Census, while providing input to the U.S Census Bureau’s nationwide efforts to obtain an accurate count.

As a member of numerous national boards and committees focused on population data and census methodology, Dr. Salvo has represented New York’s interests in nationwide matters and navigated the impacts of federal issues on the city. He lobbied for passage of the Address List Improvement Act in 1994, which gave local governments the power to review addresses for the census, and subsequently conducted New York City’s Address List Review for the 2000 Census, adding 400,000 addresses to the list and bringing the city’s population above 8 million for the first time in history. Dr. Salvo served as an Expert Witness in Federal Court for the New York Attorney General in 2018, providing testimony on litigation around adding a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census, which would have compromised both the count and quality of the data that New York City uses as a basis for providing services to the population.

Not only has Dr. Salvo helped to ensure that needs are accurately identified, but he has brought the implications of data to bear on government efforts to address them.
Dr. Salvo has applied data to inform policies and programs ranging in target from the need for school facilities, to emergency preparedness, to efficient deployment of English language instruction, to municipal service delivery. Dr. Salvo oversees the preparation of population estimates and projections for New York City and works with city agencies to evaluate ramifications on infrastructure and services.

Dr. Salvo has also helped to empower all New Yorkers and Americans with the vital information that demographic data provides. In the early 1990’s, he initiated DCP’s Newest New Yorkers publication series, which has since become the authoritative source on New York City’s immigrant population, used by community groups, non-profits, city agencies, educators, media, and more. Dr. Salvo has taught at Hunter College and Fordham University, authored numerous articles on immigration patterns in New York City and methods for data collection and application, and published resources to help users navigate and apply Census and ACS data.

Maria Torres-Springer, Vice President for US Programs at the Ford Foundation, is honored for her leadership in implementing innovative policy solutions to improve quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Maria Torres-Springer is Vice President for US programs at the Ford Foundation. In this role, Maria oversees all of the foundation’s domestic programming for Civic Engagement and Government, Creativity and Free Expression, Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice, Future of Work(ers), Just Cities and Regions, and Technology and Society.

Previously, Maria spent almost 15 years in public service with the City of New York. She has led three agencies with over 3,000 employees and approximately $2 billion in annual operating budgets, addressing some of the city’s most significant public policy challenges. Throughout her tenure in government, she worked to create powerful partnerships among communities, business, and the agencies she has led in pursuit of expanded economic opportunity for all New Yorkers.

Maria served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the nation’s largest municipal housing agency. She led the implementation of Housing New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s five-borough, 12-year plan to create or preserve 300,000 affordable homes. During her tenure, she steered the financing of approximately 60,000 affordable homes, more than any two-year period in HPD’s history. She focused on the production of housing for the city’s most vulnerable communities while launching several new programs to protect tenants’ rights.

Earlier, as the first woman to serve as president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Maria led the implementation of the new city-wide ferry service and made major investments in key sectors of New York City’s economy. Marshaling the energy and drive of community leaders, she also spearheaded several neighborhood revitalization plans across the city.

As commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services, Maria prioritized efforts to raise wages and support women and immigrant-owned businesses. She also launched Women Entrepreneurs NYC and, with the innovative Tech to Talent Pipeline program, worked to prepare New Yorkers for 21st century jobs.

Maria also served previously as the executive vice president and chief of staff at the New York City Economic Development Corporation during the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as the chief operating officer for Friends of the High Line.

Maria earned her bachelor’s degree in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University and a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has sat on numerous boards including serving as Chair of the NYC Housing Development Corporation and as a member of the New York City Housing Authority. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.

RuthAnne Visnauskas, Commissioner/CEO of New York State Homes & Community Renewal, received the Impact Award for Housing. RuthAnne is honored for her many contributions to the provision of affordable and accessible housing in New York City and across the state.

In 2017, RuthAnne Visnauskas became the Commissioner/CEO of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the umbrella entity that includes the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the New York State Housing Finance Agency, the State of New York Mortgage Agency and the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation.

Under RuthAnne’s leadership, HCR has stewarded Governor Cuomo’s $20 billion affordable and homeless housing plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable units and 6,000 supportive units over five years. The plan includes both rental housing and homeownership, new construction and preservation and in December 2019, passed the 60,000 units mark towards completion. HCR has been the most active housing bond issuer in the country in four of the last five years, issuing more than $12 billion in tax exempt and taxable housing bonds to fund initiatives ranging in scope from mixed-income rental development to single family mortgages.

Prior to joining HCR, RuthAnne was Managing Director of the Housing Advisory Board for the Robin Hood Foundation, New York’s largest poverty-fighting organization. The Housing Advisory Board was established to fund initiatives to advance the quantity and quality of affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers.

RuthAnne also held several key positions at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development during the Bloomberg administration, including the role of Commissioner from September 2014 to February 2015. HPD is the nation’s largest municipal housing agency, in charge of the development and preservation of affordable housing and the enforcement of the City’s Housing Maintenance Code.

She received her bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Master of Urban Planning from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.

Ms. Visnauskas lives in Manhattan with her husband and three children.