Cora D. Austin

Cora D. Austin is President of Lindsay Park Housing Corporation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She was elected President after joining the corporation’s Board of Directors in 2002, quickly becoming an avid voice for the group. She has since led the borough’s largest Mitchell-Lama co-op—the most ethnically diverse apartment complex in the United States—through unprecedented transformation and preservation, despite the growing challenges to maintaining affordable housing in New York City.

Ms. Austin’s tenure as President of the Lindsay Park Housing Corporation has been marked by numerous improvements to the entire seven-unit complex. She has helped to secure funding to modernize the 51-year-old complex, including the installation of energy efficient windows, lighting, utilities and appliances, all at no cost to co-op shareholders. Ms. Austin has also strongly advocated for the development of new programs and opportunities for Mitchell-Lama cooperatives at the city and state levels, and she does so in the best interests of the co-op’s middle- and lower-income families.

Her work has earned Ms. Austin the respect and recognition of fellow residents, community and city leaders and the New York Association of Realty Managers, who in 2012 presented Ms. Austin with an Environmental Stewardship Award for her tireless efforts.

Ms. Austin has been a resident of Lindsay Park Housing Corporation since 1970, when she relocated from Philadelphia to work at Chase Manhattan Bank. After earning her Master of Science in Education from Baruch College, Ms. Austin began teaching at I.S. 195 in Harlem. There, she used her financial background to develop magnet programs, and her experience as a human resource professional to foster a lifetime of professional and student relationships.

An exemplary educator, Ms. Austin received many awards of distinction, among them Teacher of the Year in 1995 from ABENY, Educator of the Year in 2002 from Junior Achievement of NY, and Teacher of the Year, District 5 in 2004. Ms. Austin continues to touch the lives of children and residents to this day, always working to make their lives happier and easier.