Unlock NYC

We are coming together to honor the life of our dear friend, Manon Vergerio, whose warmth, openness, and love touched so many. As co-founder of Unlock NYC , she advocated for dismantling housing injustice, ensuring that every New Yorker has equal access to housing. She believed deeply in working in community and transformed that belief into action by organizing, advocating, and building a movement. Manon is also a beloved member of her CityStep Penn community, where she mentored students to move through the world with confidence and creative self-expression through dance. Manon was such a bright light and welcoming spirit to all CityStep Penn members, she will be greatly missed. The same compassion and conviction she brought to her advocacy work is exactly how she showed up for her students and peers. This fundraiser supports the ongoing mission of Unlock NYC and the work Manon helped build from the ground up. By contributing, you are carrying forward Manon's legacy of expanding access, uplifting communities, and continuing the fight for a more inclusive city.

In NYC, rental assistance vouchers are lifelines for thousands of families, often creating pathways from homelessness to housing. Unfortunately, renters with vouchers face rampant housing discrimination by landlords and brokers. Unlock NYC is a fair housing nonprofit majority-led by women of color who have experienced housing discrimination because they use government rental assistance. We build tools that tenants use to combat source of income (SOI) discrimination and transition from homelessness to housing. OUR IMPACT Since launching in 2021, we have: -Helped 170+ families report discrimination and transition into permanent housing; -Saved NYC taxpayer dollars an estimated $3.2 million by reducing months spent in government-funded homeless shelters; -Crowdsourced 2,000+ allegations of housing discrimination and published novel research and policy recommendations using this unique dataset; -Ran a successful advocacy campaign to beef up NYC's specialized anti-discrimination enforcement unit, securing $1.3 million in new public funding to hire more attorneys and supporting staff at the NYC Commission on Human Rights. UNLOCK NYC DONOR CIRCLE Help us continue building off this momentum and join the movement for fair housing in New York City! Our inaugural donor circle aims to raise $20,000 over the course of 2024. We are seeking housing justice champions and New Yorkers who are invested in making our city a thriving and equitable place to live. TESTIMONIALS “I never imagined having my own home in New York, being the owner of my own keys - all thanks to Unlock NYC.” - Unlock NYC user Soelys. “[Unlock NYC] made me feel like my own words actually matter.” Anonymous user “I cannot recommend [Unlock NYC] enough. I have referred every voucher-holding client here and it dramatically improves chances of rehousing every time.” Jenny Akchin, Housing rights attorney, TakeRoot Justice