Jan Peterson, the founder of the National Congress of Neighborhood Women and Huairou Commission and North Brooklyn activist for nearly fifty years, was presented an honorary award from the executive director of UN-Habitat, Maimunah Mohd Sharif. Peterson was honored for her decades-long commitment to the work of UN-Habitat on November 19, 2023.
Peterson’s focus as an organizer is the mission to empower women, particularly grassroots women, to become community leaders on housing and neighborhood development issues locally in New York City, nationally, and globally. She founded the National Congress of Neighborhood Women (NCNW) in 1974 GROOTS International in 1985, and the Huairou Commission in 1995. All three have consultative status with the United Nations. Under her leadership, the Huairou Commission’s global membership expanded to include organizations in more than 50 countries. In addition to raising millions of dollars for work with grassroots women, Peterson pioneered leadership methods and tools.
Her strong advocacy ensured that the global women’s movement incorporated grassroots women’s groups and community development priorities for sustainable human settlements. As a result of these efforts, international agencies such as UN-Habitat, UN Women, and UN Disaster Risk Reduction included women from poor communities in advisory and planning groups.
In 2009, Peterson and the Huairou Commission received the UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honor, one of the world’s most prestigious awards presented to those working on urbanization.
At the honorary event on November 19, 2023, following receiving the certificate of honor from the head of UN-Habitat, Peterson thanked the executive director and commented on the many years of exciting and meaningful partnerships. Among the many participants at the gathering were officers from the New York office of UN-Habitat, Chris Williams (director), Neil Kahn, and other members and friends of the National Congress of Neighborhood Women including Jane Pool (local coordinator National Congress of Neighborhood Women).
The Greenline 