Researcher Spotlight: Ryder Kessler (Abundance NY)

Happy Valentines Day! It’s fitting that this week’s newsletter is a love letter to New York. I had the privilege of interviewing one of New York’s own: Ryder Kessler at Abundance NY. Abundance NY is a political home for New Yorkers who believe the city and state's superpowers are growth and change. They push for housing and against homelessness, for more vibrant public transit and public spaces, for renewable energy and resilience infrastructure, and for more effective government delivery of all of the above. 

As the community making New York the best place to grow older, AgeTech NYC is very aligned with Abundance NY’s mission. Read on to learn more!

— Sarah Richard

Could you start by sharing a bit about your road to Abundance NY?

RK: Sure! My career path has been a little bit winding, but geographically I’ve stayed very close to where I started: I grew up near Union Square and have lived in the West Village since right after college. 

Professionally, I did a stint in academia thinking I would be an English professor: I loved teaching and reading old novels, but dissertating wasn’t for me. I left the PhD to launch a tech company, DipJar, which helped low-wage service workers collect more tips and nonprofits collect more donations. After the 2016 election, though, I realized I needed to be on the frontlines of defending democracy and progressive values—most of my work since then has been on federal campaigns (at the House, Senate, and Presidential level) with a focus on voter protection (making sure every eligible voter can successfully register, vote, and get their vote counted). 

At the same time, since I am so rooted in my neighborhood and invested in the city, I realized I wanted to get involved in local politics. I joined my Community Board (CB) six years ago, which for me was a very activating experience. Especially in the wake of Covid-19, it’s clear that New York City and State need to do big things to address rising costs of living, diminishing quality of life, and long-term safety and security—but many of the institutions where political power is wielded in New York, like CBs, are oriented towards keeping the status quo as is. Indeed, much like the voters in our primary elections, CB members and other power players in New York are more likely to be older, whiter, and wealthier than those not participating—and more likely to own homes and drive rather than rent and ride—and so our politicians’ incentives don’t match up with New Yorkers’ needs.

That recognition led me to run for the State Assembly in 2022 in the district where I was born and where the same Assembly member has been the representative since I was five years old (I’m now pushing 40!). Though I didn’t win, my campaign brought together a vibrant group of New Yorkers who want to end status quo politics—folks from pro-housing, public transit and public space, and climate movements, as well as a lot of regular young professionals and parents of young kids not served by our conventional politics. 

My cofounders and I realized that outside of individual campaigns or siloed issue advocacy groups, there was no big-picture political home for that critical and growing constituency, through which they could get civically engaged, influence their elected officials, and take power themselves. Thus, Abundance New York was born! 

For those unfamiliar, how would you describe Abundance NY’s mission and the specific role it plays in shaping policy and community conversations?

RK: Our mission is to organize and empower New Yorkers who believe the city and state's superpowers are growth and change, building power for the abundance agenda—more housing, more public transit and people-first public space, more renewable energy and resiliency, and more government capacity to deliver.  

First, we bring these people together through events like monthly happy hours and panel discussions, constituent meetings with elected officials, and content like our Substack newsletter. Many organized constituencies in New York oppose our goals, and so it’s important to show policymakers that we’re here and must be heard as well.

Second, we help our members use their power—whether that means helping them run for office, join their community board, join advocacy calls to action around pro-abundance policies, or joining the campaign of an abundance-aligned candidate. 

Third, we help bring abundance-aligned advocacy organizations together to build a bigger tent and bigger movement. Before we launched, we observed that New Yorkers who wanted more growth and dynamism were generally siloed within issue-specific organizations—focused on housing policy, bike lanes, etc.—and so bringing leaders from this ecosystem together to show how these issues are connected is key to growing the movement and our power.

Ultimately, our theory is that by organizing and empowering Abundance-minded New Yorkers, we can unlock policy change that leads to New York creating more than enough of everything we need to lower cost of living, increase quality of life, and guarantee long-term sustainability and security.

With your background in both entrepreneurship and advocacy, what lessons have you brought from building a company into how you approach solutions for systemic challenges?

RK: I love building something out of nothing, and figuring out what is missing in the world and then trying to put it in. 

But the biggest lesson I’ve picked up from previous entrepreneurship is that large-scale change is always a team effort. My cofounder at Abundance New York, Catherine Vaughan, has been a friend for over 20 years—and she’s also a brilliant thinker and leader. After the 2016 election, she started Flippable, a PAC focused on flipping state legislative seats from red to blue; they later merged with Swing Left, which she led through the 2020 election. She has tremendous expertise in galvanizing widespread grassroots energy into strategic impact, which is essential in our work to turn abundance energy into a real community that can drive real change.

Strategically, I think it’s essential to develop a theory of change: what are the barriers to building the future we want, and what kind of product, campaign, community, etc., are needed to remove those barriers?

What are the most pressing policy issues facing older adults in New York City today, and how is Abundance NY contributing to addressing them?

RK: I think the issues facing older adults are largely the issues facing broader communities of New Yorkers—though of course they impact older adults uniquely. 

The biggest challenge is rent prices: we have rents rising seven times faster than wages—that hurts everyone but it particularly endangers New Yorkers who wish to age in place. Skyrocketing rents are fundamentally an issue of scarcity: we have built far too little housing over the last fifty years, and we now have a dangerously low vacancy rate of 1.4%. New Yorkers are competing for apartments, and so landlords have all the power—and use it to raise prices. Alongside rental protections and vouches, we must fundamentally change the balance of power: in places where housing is abundant, landlords compete for tenants and rents go down. We need to foster that future for New York which will empower all New Yorkers to live securely where they want for as long as they want. Older New Yorkers also want their kids and grandkids to be able to live nearby, and so ensuring that New York stays affordable and accessible for younger generations is of interest to all generations. (Thinking about the future also means thinking about climate change and speeding up the renewable energy deployment and resiliency infrastructure that will reduce the impact of future weather emergencies and improve our ability to adapt to them!)

Second, I would say that accessibility and related quality of life issues are paramount. My mother has rheumatoid arthritis and cannot take the stairs into the subway; she relies on buses to get around. Underinvestment in public transit and public space mean it’s increasingly difficult for her to get around. Abundant investment in transit and the streetscape would mean more subway elevators, more dedicated busways that speed service, and more pedestrianization that limit the dangers of ever-bigger cars—from traffic violence to emissions to congestion that slows emergency vehicle response times.

What specific policies could most effectively address housing insecurity, healthcare access, or social isolation among older adults in New York? 

RK: We’ve seen recent progress on these issues—from the passage of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, which will allow for about 80,000 new homes to be built over the next 10-15 years; to congestion pricing, which is speeding buses and emergency vehicles while providing funds to subway elevators and service improvements. Of course, we must do much more: we need more home creation, more service and speed investments, and more general attention to fostering vibrant public spaces that can foster community. 

Looking ahead, what is your long-term vision for Abundance NY’s impact on New York’s political and social landscape? How do you hope to influence the city’s approach to equity and care for its aging population?

RK: I envision a future where every older adult can live where they want for as long as they want; can easily and quickly get to medical appointments and social events; can breathe easily on clean and safe streets; and can rest assured that the city they love, and the people they love in it, will inherit a bright and vibrant future.

To get there, I aspire for the Abundance Agenda to become the agenda for all New York policymakers—and with the power-building of the Abundance New York community, and I have faith we’ll get there fast!