Hyperlocal Organizing to Find Your Real Base
I helped organize the Crown Heights Tenant Union’s 2025 Congress. This was an opportunity for union members to talk about a shared direction for the union. We used the CHTU Congress to surface tensions around race, class, and competing organizing models.
In the months leading up to the 2025 Congress, we designed a union-wide survey that invited members to speak candidly about their experiences and priorities. We synthesized the survey data into thematic areas to shape the Congress agenda. This ensured Congress discussions were grounded in what members were actually saying.
Those themes:
Hyperlocal Organizing
Black and Immigrant Participation
Community and Knowledge-Sharing
Decision-Making
Finances and Mutual Aid
I will use a couple of essays to breakdown everything we discussed and decided. By consensus, we agreed to prioritize Hyperlocal Organizing (Part 1) and Decision-Making (Part 2).
Crown Heights Tenant Union members chat during a break in Congress sessions.
A Crown Heights Tenant Union member hangs a map of Crown Heights.
What Is Hyperlocal Organizing?
Hyperlocal organizing means building durable relationships with the people who live closest to you. On your floor, in your building, on your block. You inspire folks to share about their issues through sustained face-to-face relationships: stoop chats, shared meals, domino nights, block cleanups, church meetings.
At the CHTU Congress, what became clearest to me is that “hyperlocal organizing” is not just a tactic. It is how we find our real base. Tenant power is built through proximity and familiarity, not through abstraction or centralization. As one member put it, “The Tenant Association serves as the foundation of each building and the first line of defense for residents.” Everything else depends on that foundation.
This is harder for CHTU than it used to be. Members are spread across Crown Heights and neighboring areas, transportation is a barrier, and the post-pandemic shift to digital organizing (we haven’t distributed print flyers about the CHTU General Membership Meeting in years) has changed who shows up. Several people noted that the union is now “whiter, younger, and shorter tenure,” than in the 2010s, even as Crown Heights remains a predominantly Black, working-class, and immigrant neighborhood facing intense displacement pressure.
Connecting Building-Level Fights
The Congress surfaced a productive tension. On one hand, there is broad agreement that “our main power/leverage comes from militant organizing on the building level.” On the other hand, people were clear that we cannot remain locked inside individual buildings: “We need strong TAs and campaigns, but we also need… to not stay locked into the building or block.” The challenge, then, is not choosing between hyperlocal organizing and union-wide structures, but creating pathways between them. We want building-level tenant associations that are politicized and self-sustaining, but also connected to a broader movement.
Hyperlocal organizing is essential if CHTU is serious about centering long-term Black residents and immigrant tenants. Fear of ICE, police, retaliation, and surveillance shapes who participates. People are working long hours, caring for family, and navigating instability. One tenant warned against vague universalism: “Reorient to the goal of stopping displacement of long-term Black residents. No more all tenants matter rhetoric.”
There was also clear skepticism about the union drifting into a service-provider model. Multiple people cautioned against tenants treating CHTU members like attorneys or case managers. Over-centralization can hollow out grassroots power. Hyperlocal organizing offers a way out of this trap by shifting the union’s role toward supporting tenant-led leadership, identifying “organic leaders,” and embedding political education early without overwhelming newcomers with radical language that feels abstract or alienating.
Crown Heights Tenant Union members chat between Congress sessions.
People’s Recommendations
Several concrete recommendations emerged from these conversations. First, meet people where they already are. “Hold workshops where neighbors live and frequent instead of expecting them to come to us.” That means satellite meetings, tenant circles, and events in walkable locations: churches, community gardens, rec centers, grocery stores, and block parties.
Second, consistently provide the material conditions for participation—food, childcare, and translation (especially Spanish and Haitian Creole).
Third, prioritize geographic specificity. Door-knock systematically by block, especially south of Eastern Parkway. Track where tenant associations already exist and build there. Consider block stewards and a registry of TAs so nearby buildings can find each other for solidarity and rapid response.
Fourth, be clear and disciplined about politics. Create space for politicization that connects everyday struggles like repairs, harassment, or tax liens to larger systems of displacement, while avoiding rhetoric that shuts people out before relationships are built.
Finally, the Congress underscored the importance of a fun and consistent presence. Organizing should not feel like a meeting-only culture or a crisis-only intervention. BBQs, bingo or spades nights, courtyard cleanups, and church meetups are not distractions from “real” organizing. They are how trust is built. As one member reminded us, “The elders in my building and community are always watching out.” Our streets are already organized. Talk to your neighbors.
Crown Heights Tenant Union members stretch between Congress sessions.
The core lesson I took from the Congress is this: if the Crown Heights Tenant Union wants to build deep, sustainable tenant power, it has to orient itself around real social worlds (buildings, blocks, and neighborhoods) while intentionally weaving those worlds into a shared political project.
Top 10 Recommendations
Anchor organizing in hyperlocal relationships. Focus on blocks, buildings, and nearby community spaces—using door-knocking, stoop chats, and small gatherings—to rebuild trust and familiarity, especially south of Eastern Parkway.
Meet people where they already are. Hold satellite meetings, workshops, and tenant circles in accessible, walkable locations like churches, rec centers, community gardens, and Restoration Plaza.
Make participation materially possible. Provide food, childcare, and translation (especially Spanish and Haitian Creole) at all meetings and events to remove key barriers to entry.
Build and support local leadership. Identify and nurture “organic leaders” in buildings and neighborhoods; rotate members through roles to develop shared leadership and prevent burnout.
Connect organizing to everyday community life. Use social and cultural events—BBQs, domino or spades nights, courtyard cleanups, block parties—as consistent on-ramps to deeper political engagement.
Clarify and localize political messaging. Update “What is CHTU” materials to clearly articulate the union’s values and goals while avoiding alienating or overly abstract language.
Develop organizing structures that link the local and the union-wide. Track where tenant associations (TAs) already exist, build capacity there, and establish a public registry to help nearby TAs coordinate solidarity and rapid responses.
Integrate political education into early organizing. Connect immediate tenant concerns—repairs, harassment, displacement—to broader union politics through discussion and workshops that start from lived experience.
Stay grounded and consistent. Maintain regular communication across buildings and committees; show up repeatedly in shared spaces so tenants see the union as a visible presence.
Center racial and class equity in every layer of work. Make explicit commitments to long-term Black and immigrant residents; build accountability structures around race and class into all organizing rather than isolating those conversations in caucuses.
Quotes:
“The Tenant Association serves as the foundation of each building and the first line of defense for residents.”
“Our main power and leverage comes from militant organizing on the building level.”
“The union has always been strongest when Tenant Associations and TA organizing is our central goal.”
“We need strong TAs and campaigns, but we also need to not stay locked into the building or block.”
“Hold workshops where neighbors live and frequent instead of expecting them to come to us.”
“Resist the service model and people treating CHTU members like attorneys.”
“Build rapid response infrastructures to respond to displacement and evictions.”
“Be explicit about race and class and how it impacts us.”
“Reorient to the goal of stopping displacement of long-term Black residents—no more ‘all tenants matter’ rhetoric.”
“Post-pandemic, the tenant union is whiter and younger.”
