Four Bloustein School graduate students were selected as a 2026–2027 ANHD Community Development Graduate Fellows. Thanks to a major new investment from Morgan Stanley, this year ANHD is welcomes 10 Fellows, the largest cohort in the Fellowship’s 15-year history. This expanded investment is helping ANHD grow the pipeline of emerging community development leaders while increasing the capacity of community-based organizations across New York City
This year, ANHD paired ten graduate students with ANHD member organizations for 10 months to work on impactful community development projects across New York City. Through the Fellowship, emerging leaders receive hands-on experience, training, and support while contributing additional capacity and expertise to organizations advancing equitable development in their communities.
Our 15th Fellowship cohort will work on a range of issues, including affordable housing development and preservation, cooperative housing, homeownership, commercial space development, community land trusts, economic development, small business support and organizing, and land use.
Thomas Gillam (he/him)
Host Organization: Flatbush Development Co.
Thomas Gillam is pursuing a Masters degree in City & Regional Planning with concentrations in Housing/Community Development and Urban Redevelopment at the Bloustein School. With a Bachelor’s degree in History from St. Joseph’s University on Long Island, his interests combine both LGBTQ+ history and current practices in urban planning and policy. He is interested in working in affordable housing, real estate development, and LGBTQ+ focused community development. Furthermore, he is focused on understanding more about the current decline of third spaces that embrace LGBTQ+ culture in New York City. Thomas is excited to work with the Flatbush Development Co in creating local change.
Christina Gonzalve (she/they)
Host Organization: Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, Inc.
Christina Gonzalve is pursuing their Master’s in City and Regional Planning at the Bloustein School. Her passion for furthering environmental justice and equitable community development was sparked by her experience working as Head Editor of “The Meaning of the Seed”, a documentary highlighting the environmental justice issues facing the Ramapough Lunaape Turtle Clan of Ringwood, NJ. While working at the NJDEP Office of Environmental Justice, Christina provided overburdened communities with the tools and knowledge necessary to address longstanding environmental issues. She is driven to help build resilient communities that are led with equity, inclusion, and compassion for the most vulnerable. In their free time, they enjoy hiking, making art, and picking up trash around their community.
Celli Pitt (she)
Host Organization: Cooper Square Community Development Committee
Celli Pitt is a second-year graduate student in the Master of City and Regional Planning program at the Bloustein School. Celli also holds an MFA in Theatre/Acting and believes that artists should be an integral part of the planning and development of cities and communities- not just as benefactors of planning but as active participants at the planning table. She believes that often artists have been used to enhance and bring vitality and then are often priced and pushed out of those very communities. She intends to work in the areas of development, redevelopment and community development in order to dream, plan and execute housing and communities that are equitable and inclusive–with the spirit of an artist. Celli is very honored to be a recipient of this year’s Progress of Ideas Scholarship! This is dedicated to her mother who continues to watch over her as an ancestor.
Ahthia Waugh (she/her)
Host Organization: WHEDco
Ahthia Waugh is a Master of City and Regional Planning candidate at the Bloustein School. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto, where she double majored in Public Policy and City Studies. Her passion for social justice has grown through her academic exploration of urban planning into a commitment to planning more equitable and inclusive cities for communities that have been historically overlooked and underserved. Ahthia’s work is guided by the belief that the physical environment plays a powerful role in shaping access to opportunity, and that thoughtful planning is essential to ensuring people can thrive regardless of their geographical location. Her future aspirations include addressing the affordable housing crisis through the lens of housing as a human right, and facilitating development without displacement.
Ahthia’s previous roles at the Government of Ontario, as a Student Researcher at the Ralph W. Voorhees Center for Civic Engagement, and most recently at Isles, Inc. have awarded her with a diverse perspective on the intersection of social service delivery and resource provision, policy design, and community revitalization. As a Community Development Fellow, Ahthia seeks to deepen her understanding of resident-driven community development rooted in lived knowledge and cultural capital. She is eager to apply this background to her work with the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) to support small business sustainability and mixed-use housing preservation in the South Bronx.