The Cooperators
Documentary Film (2024)
A collaboration with the Penn South Archive Project
Audience Award Winner, Workers United Film Festival
The whole thing about ‘no affordable housing.’ This is it! They did this experiment in 1962. It worked perfectly and they never repeated it.
– Ira Glasser, original cooperator
In 1962 the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) opened Penn South to provide affordable housing for working people within walking distance of New York City’s garment district. Sixty years later, current residents of the coop recorded oral histories with the original residents to create a permanent record of this bold experiment in cooperative living.
The Cooperators weaves the oral histories into a collective testament to the power of social unionism. Early on the cooperators realized they needed to elect an all-resident Board, established their own power plant, designed and built a playground and created the first NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) that remains a model in the nation.
Through fierce disagreements, humor and a lot of heart, Penn South has remained a beacon of the possibilities of social unionism and affordable housing in New York City.
Please also see Belle
We felt then and we feel now that we should have more housing for middle and lower income residents in New York.
– Velma Hill, cooperator
People like to say that the affordable housing crisis is impossible to solve. Penn South proves them wrong! We made The Cooperators to preserve a record of this extraordinary counter example – a co-op in the middle of New York City that provides community and affordable housing to thousands of people.
We document the history of working peoples’ achievements, which are so often not recognized. Living in an affordable cooperative makes it possible for us to engage in activities that benefit Chelsea and beyond. The legacy of social unionism continues to inform the culture of Penn South. We offer The Cooperators for free screenings to individuals and groups organizing in their communities. Contact us for more information.
Awards:
• Workers United Film Festival 2024
Audience Award for Documentary Short
Screenings & Presentations (2024-2025)
• Institute for Public Architecture (IPA)
Governor’s Island Block House
• SUNY Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies
• Penn South
Screenings and New Cooperator Orientations
• CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
“Building Community Through Social Unionism”
Collaborators: Tammy Arenstein (Coordinator of Path Home), May Chen (former VP, ILGWU)
• NYU Gallatin
“Storytelling as a Tool for Organizing”
Collaborators: Lyn Lewis and Rob Robinson (New School Housing Justice Project), May Chen (former VP, ILGWU)
• Urban Academy High School
Rachel Birdsall, Teacher
• Wellfleet Library, Massachusetts
Hosted by Colette Swietnick
• Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
Daniel Levinson Wilk, Professor of History
• New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)
Ana Djordjevic, Labor Educator
• Pratt Institute
Social Justice/Social Practice Minor
Caitlin Cahill, Professor of Urban Geography & Politics, Co-Coordinator,
• PSC-CUNY
Professional Staff Congress
Ana Djordjevic, Brooklyn College
• DSA at Rutgers University Labor Center
Aaron Bernstein, Organizer
• Brooklyn College – Macaulay Honors College
Professor Veronica Manlow
• The Living City Project
Tanya Gallo, Co-founder, Gap Year Program
• CUNY Graduate Center
Susan Opotow, Professor of Critical & Social Psychology Morningside Heights Coop
• Hunter College (CUNY) Laura Wolf-Powers, Associate Professor of Urban Policy & Planning
The Cooperators:
Andrew Alpern, Bertha Bendick, Eric Darton, Katya de Kadt, Margo DePaola, Bernie & Paulette Esrig, Millie Glaberman, Ira & Trude Glasser, Norman & Velma Hill, Susan Immergut, Georgia Keghlian, Albert Machlin, Walter Naegle, Pauline Rothstein, Harold Vander Malle
A film by Ruth Sergel & The Penn South Archive Project
Co-coordinators: Tracy Gross & Trudy Rudnick
Margarita Aguilar, Cara Aloisio, Christiane Bird, Silvie Bird, Leah Cooper, Bea Corbett, Peggy Crull, Lisa Ellis, Olive Eng, Sonia Goldstein, Liz Greenberg, John Harris, Nancy Kurtz , Loraine Machlin, Deirdre May, Walter Naegle, Lynne Oddo, Susan Ortega, Joan Ostroff, Bridget Robinson, Pauline Rothstein, Ellen Semel, Fiona Shuldiner, Gail Siegal, Wendy Silva, Colette Swietnicki, Abby Tannenbaum, Liz Taub, Thelma Thomas, Rena Zager
Re-recording Mixer & Sound Designer
Avi Zev Weider
Images
courtesy of The Cooperators
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives, Cornell University
NYC Municipal Archives
St. Eleftherios, Greek Orthodox Church
Workers United
Doug & Rick Acosta
Jane & Dan Acosta Collection
Maggie Block
Judith Eisenberg
Jeff Dullea Garden Collection
Joe Raskin
Susan & Jack Raskin collection
Lois Weiss
Robert & Rose Zelman documents
Film Excerpts
The Earth and Its Peoples, Library of Congress
Urban Oasis, J. Phinias Antonoffsky, Cindy Holden
Rocket Man, Doug & Rick Acosta
Art at Penn South
Serena Jost, Song: Silver Star, Publishing: Private Pocket Music (ASCAP)
Harriet Kriegel, Domestic Tranquility
Gary Schoichet, People at Work
Music
Wurk (Which Side Are You On) Linqua Franqua
Thank You
Workers United
Rustin Foundation
Holy Apostles Church
Institute for Public Architecture
Andrew Tilson and the Workers United Film Festival
Tammy Arnstein • Cole Cahill • May Chen • Esther Cohen • Eric Dirnbach • Bill Even • Michelle Fiordaliso • Pamela Griffiths • Jamie Haft • Nina Haft • Richard Harkness • Sherry Kane • Edgar Romney • Naomi Schiller • Natalia Shevin • Amy Starecheski • Liz Taub • Caitlin Zaloom
Special Thanks
The Kheel Center
Steven Calco & Curtis Lyons
Jude Calder
This project was supported by grants from:
The 21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund & The Lily Auchincloss Foundation
The Penn South Archive Project is an initiative of Penn South Social Services
Gary Schoichet, President
Matt Kahn, Executive Director
Anna Crull, Graphic Designer
