Amy Starecheski is an oral historian and cultural anthropologist who has lived in Mott Haven, on 139th Street, since 2001. Her grandmother and great-grandmother lived on St. Ann’s Avenue, and her mother grew up in the Bronx. She has been a member of El Girasol Garden, Padre Plaza, and (most recently) Brook Park. She is married and has a 12 year old daughter. She teaches oral history at Columbia University and has a PhD from the CUNY Grad Center.
Her last project was with former squatters on the Lower East Side who were turning their buildings into low-income co-ops. She created an archive of interviews with them that is available to the public through NYU, a book (Ours to Lose: When Squatters Became Homeowners in New York City, 2016, University of Chicago Press), and a podcast about the story (99% Invisible, Episode # 261, Squatters of the Lower East Side).
