Who We Are || Staff at Sixth Street

Howard Brandstein, Executive Director

Howard Brandstein (he/him) began his work at Sixth Street Community Center as a volunteer back in the 1980s. As a lifelong New Yorker and urban homesteader, he assisted Lower East Side and East Harlem residents in homesteading and sweat equity, helping establish  HDFCs, community gardens and the first Community Land Trust (CLT) in NYC. He is passionate about saving our planet and communities from the scourge of racial capitalism, fights against displacement in our working class neighborhoods and is actively organizing a new Community Land Trust (CLT) to be established right here on East 6th Street.

​If you'd like to get in touch, contact him at: [email protected]
Jen Chantrtanapichate, Deputy Director
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Jen Chantrtanapichate (she/her) is a Thai-American artist, climate activist and community organizer from New York City. She received her Masters in Urban Planning and BA in Urban Studies from Hunter College. She developed and jumpstarted SSCC's Youth & Teen Programs, Emergency Food Distribution and Mutual Aid Kitchen Project. On top of being responsible for the overall success of SSCC's programs, she leads the center's organizing work in climate justice campaigns around energy democracy, opposition to fossil fuel expansion and coastal resiliency.  In 2015, she founded the grassroots community organization, CNB, which advocates for environmental justice, particularly in response to waste inequity and environmental racism in North Brooklyn. She serves on the board of the Bushwick Food Coop and the Fifth Street Farm Project. In her spare time, she fights for climate justice for BIPOC communities with coalitions like Frack Outta Brooklyn (FOBK) and works on campaigns that fall under the ethos of ecosocialism.
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If you'd like to get in touch, contact her at: [email protected]
Anna Leidecker, Teen Program Director
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Anna Leidecker (they/she) is a climate educator and mutual aid activist based in NYC. They are the Program Director of the Teen Climate Justice Program, which aims to empower high school students with information, skills, and relationships to become climate activists. Anna received her Masters of Community Health from CUNY School of Public Health, and her BS in Anthropology and Public Health from CUNY Baccalaureate and Macaulay Honors College. Anna began organizing in 2020, resisting fossil fuel expansion with the No North Brooklyn Pipeline Alliance, and went on to lead projects in citizen science, legislative advocacy, community gardening, youth empowerment, and mutual aid. Raised in Appalachia with roots in Brooklyn & Queens, they are passionate about nature, dance, mindfulness, and approaching life with the values of decolonization and pleasure activism. 

​If you'd like to get in touch, contact them at: anna@sixthstreetcenter.org, 929-220-3014
Alfred Robertson, Facilities Maintenance Manager

Born and raised in Harlem, Alfred Robertson (he/him) has been a part of the Sixth Street team since 2003. Alfred brings decades of facilities maintenance experience, carpentry and other building trades. You can always count on seeing Alfred outside with a big smile on his face. 
Grace Walsh-Little, Youth Program Coordinator 
 
Grace Walsh-Little (She/Her/Hers) is a passionate environmentalist from Baltimore, Maryland.
She is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Science
in Environmental Science & Policy. Alongside her major, she pursued minors in Nonprofit
Leadership and Social Innovation and Humanities, Health, and Medicine. In Grace’s past
work, she has been involved in food sovereignty initiatives, such as working at her university’s
Campus Pantry and has a background in environmental education, gained through working at a
Montessori school. She has also done urban agricultural work, as part of her university’s
Community Learning Garden and at an urban farm in Baltimore. These experiences have
sparked her interest in continuing to engage in and teach about environmental justice.

You can get in touch with Grace at: [email protected]


Dayana Aziz, Youth Program Co-Coordinator

​Dayana Aziz is a multidisciplinary artist and art educator. Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dayana moved to New York City in 2017 to pursue a BFA in Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts. Through Sixth Street, they discovered their passion for pedagogy and youth education. They genuinely believe in the power of collaborative learning and engaging kids as mutual thinkers and creators. Outside of the Youth Program, Dayana can be found volunteering at 8Ball Community zine fairs, cooking Malaysian food for friends, or going down Wikipedia rabbit holes. They hope to pursue an MFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Social Practice.

You can get in touch with Dayana at: [email protected]
Mia Sterbini, Youth Program Educator

Mia is a cultural worker, organizer & artist from Maryland. They recently graduated from Point Park University with a BFA in Acting. They are grateful to currently be building liberatory practice across creative disciplines, including through indigenous-led land justice advocacy & gardening, performance work on stage & film, written publications, community ritual facilitation & organizing alongside a number of local & national organizations. And now through joining the incredible team & kids here at Sixth Street as Garden Educator! They believe in the powerful guidance of the youth, the earth, and the people’s art as our most alive & necessary tools towards a more free future. 

You can get in touch with Mia at: [email protected]
Olivia Minjae Lee, Youth Program Educator

Olivia is a facilitator, youth worker and poet. Driven by the love of food, she worked in NYC kitchens for 2+ years cultivating community through cooking Korean meals and working the line. Olivia holds a background in social justice education and youth work, rooted in the belief that poetry is a vehicle for liberation. When teaching topics of justice to children and youth, her goal as a facilitator is to uphold a brave and imaginative space that questions: “What are our dreams for ourselves, our community and the world?”. Olivia has a B.A from Oberlin College in Latin American studies with minors in Sociology and Africana Studies.

You can get in touch with Olivia at: [email protected]
Alysa Chen. Community Engagement Coordinator, Air Quality Monitoring and Environmental Justice 

Born and raised on the Lower East Side on 6th Street, Alysa Chen (she/her) is passionate about environmental activism, social justice, and youth and immigrant empowerment. She has been active in multiple spaces, such as fighting for more curricular representation of Asian American and Critical Ethnic Studies at her college and organizing her high school’s first climate strike walkout and Green Team in 2019. Alysa received her BA in Geography from Vassar College. As a second-generation immigrant with strong roots in Chinatown, Alysa is committed to helping shape an equitable future for her city and fighting displacement in her neighborhoods. In her freetime, Alysa enjoys immersing herself in salsa dance culture, which, like herself, was born in New York as the result of diaspora and cultural fusion.

You can get in touch with Alysa at: [email protected]
Davina Resto,  Food Justice Coordinator 

Davina Resto serves Sixth Street Community Center as their Food Justice Coordinator. She also serves as the Senior Community Outreach Associate at the Environmental Protection Network, assisting frontline environmental justice communities access resources for their communities, where she also leads their work with Tribes and indigenous people across the nation. Davina is a graduate of Mercy University, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy. She is passionate about supporting her local community by targeting social and environmental injustices. 

You can get in touch with Davina at: [email protected]​
Sixth Street Community Center Board Members:
  • Amikole Maraesa, Board Chair
  • Ashwin Rastogi, Treasurer
  • Kendra Krueger
  • Mitch Cohen
  • Peri Torres, Secretary
  • Sarah Johnston

Massive Thanks and Gratitude to Our Amazing Volunteers: 

Sixth Street Community Center relies on the generous support of volunteers to sustain the work of our Mutual Aid work, our Emergency Food Distribution and Mutual Aid Kitchen Project. Many of these neighbors have been showing up to support weekly for nearly 18 months! 
Bo Bao.                                                                                     Ashwin Rastogi.                                                                     Michelle Hembree.
Cajou Wedemeyer.                                                               Julie Powell.                                                                         Quinn Shanahan.
Mark Levy and Bo Bao, making grocery bags with heaps of quality greens! 
Porfirio, Cajou, Emer and Miguel resting after a distribution day. 
Mark Levy helping unpack the corn!