Congratulations to Rhonda-Lee Davis, Second Annual NextGen Innovation Award Winner

Congratulations to Rhonda-Lee Davis for winning the second annual NextGen Innovation Award. 

Rhonda-Lee plans to promote entrepreneurship among young adults living in supportive housing by helping them realize their potential, connect them with resources in their communities, and support their financial literacy. The Award provides $5,000 to support the project.

As the Young Adult Housing Transition Specialist at Lantern Community Services (LCS), Rhonda-Lee works with young adults living in supportive housing to overcome barriers that stand in the way of their transitioning to independent housing.  

She plans to begin this year with events at each of LCS’s four young adult supportive residences and hopes that the program will be a model that can be replicated by other New York City supportive housing providers. 

“It’s an honor to receive the NextGen Innovation Award,” Rhonda-Lee shared. “For me, this is more than financial support for a project. It signals much-needed support from organizations like NCS for the work needed to help young adults successfully transition to independent housing. I hope this project will bring us steps closer to sustained solutions. Like many others working in the supportive housing field, I know our tenants are talented, and the communities we serve hold opportunities and resources; more work needs to be done to unlock and link them.” 

NCS launched the Award in 2019 to advance creative strategies for alleviating homelessness by recognizing an emerging leader or team working on an innovative approach to homelessness. The Fullgraf Foundation has generously endowed the Award.

“NCS works to transform the lives of people struggling with homelessness,” said NCS CEO Ann L. Shalof. “The NextGen Innovation Award encourages the development of actionable ideas that address homelessness in New York City. It is the signature project of NCS’s NextGen Network, as it is intended to foster the next generation of leadership in this arena. We are all delighted to present the second annual NextGen Innovation Award to Rhonda-Lee.” 

Rhonda-Lee is an urban planner who works to secure successful housing transitions for young adults who have aged out of foster care. She is passionate about the role that affordable housing and financial inclusion play in promoting livable urban communities for all New Yorkers. Rhonda-Lee was a 2019-2020 Urban Design Forum Forefront fellow and is a member of Together Resilient, a consortium of women in urban planning focused on amplifying community-led environmental and economic solutions. She earned her Master of Urban Planning from CUNY Hunter College.