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Center for Safety & Change Hosts 18th Annual Simona & Jerome A. Chazen Business Luncheon
Center for Safety & Change (the Center) will hold its 18th Annual Simona & Jerome A. Chazen Business Luncheon, honoring local business leaders who exemplify the values of community responsibility, compassion, and social change on Oct. 24, 2025, from 11:30 AM to 2 PM at the Hilton Pearl River (500 Veterans Memorial Drive.)
This year’s honorees are:
- Christine Cordey, Christine Cordey Salon
- Breda Lyons & Catherine Levins, River Court on Main
Each of these business leaders has made a powerful impact by using their platforms to uplift victims and survivors, support the Center’s mission, and foster a culture of safety, inclusion, and equity within Rockland County, the center said.
The Simona & Jerome A. Chazen Business Luncheon was developed to give businesses tools to advocate and educate their clientele, work force, networks and other entities around domestic violence.
The luncheon is named in honor of Simona and the late Jerome A. Chazen who have inspired business leaders to take an active role in social justice efforts. The Chazens believe deeply that corporate influence should be leveraged for the greater good.
“Simona & Jerome A. Chazen have spent a lifetime championing the movement to end domestic violence. They believe the business community has an obligation to give back and proactively address issues like domestic violence. The late Jerome Chazen loved Center for Safety & Change’s annual business luncheon because it inspired businesses to develop socially‑responsive programs focused on awareness, education, and prevention,” said Paul Adler, Esq., Event Chair & Board Member of the Center for Safety & Change.
“The Simona & Jerome A. Chazen Business Luncheon was named to acknowledge my late husband Jerry Chazen, who led a national effort to induce corporations to help eradicate domestic violence. We thank you all for your support of a woman’s right to feel safe in and out of her home. Please join me this year in what will surely be another most special luncheon,” said Simona Chazen, Event Chair & Advisory Council.
The Chazen Business Luncheon is also a major fundraiser for the Center, helping sustain its critical, life-saving work across the region. Funds raised support services such as emergency shelter, legal advocacy, counseling, and violence prevention programs.
Tickets are $175, and sponsorships and journal advertisements are available. Reserve your place or become a sponsor by visiting: https://bit.ly/2025businessluncheon
Pattern Launches Research into Corporate Housing Ownership in the Mid-Hudson
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to conduct the first comprehensive study of corporate housing ownership and consolidation in the Mid-Hudson region, focusing on Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties. The project will unearth and quantify trends of housing corporatization and the increasing prevalence of short-term rentals to better assess impacts of these trends on housing affordability and access. To pursue this research, Pattern is partnering with nationally renowned data partners: the Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS) at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Inside Airbnb. The team’s analysis will equip communities and policymakers with data to better inform public decision-making around this issue.
Pattern was one of 30 organizations selected from more than 1,900 applicants nationwide to receive the Local Data for Equitable Communities grant. Pattern will share some of the initial data findings at its annual housing conference on October 14 at SUNY New Paltz. The full project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The project will examine the quantity of homes in the Mid-Hudson that have been purchased by corporations in recent years. It will focus on single-family homes, along with duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes. The data analyzed by Pattern and its partners will show how the rate of corporate homeownership has changed over time, and whether market disruptions, like the Covid-19 pandemic, caused corporations to purchase more homes in the Mid-Hudson region. The research will also outline the total quantity of investor-owned homes are owned for the purposes of long-term rental versus short-term rental, and the project will yield the first comprehensive database of short-term rentals in all five counties.
The consolidation of residential ownership by large corporations is likely exacerbating the regional wealth gap between rich and poor, driving rents further out of reach for tenants, and significantly reducing access to homeownership and generational wealth for first-time homebuyers. Despite this problem, no public or private agency in New York has yet published data that would empower communities to understand the issue of corporate housing ownership. As a consequence, public discourse about investor-owned housing has not been grounded in data and facts, limiting the ability of state and local governments to make informed decisions about housing policy.
“Through anecdotal evidence and limited local data, we know that affordability challenges, displacement, and barriers to homeownership in the Mid-Hudson region are being intensified by private equity firms and other corporate entities acquiring large residential portfolios,” said Pattern for Progress CEO Adam Bosch. “But because no public agency has collected or published comprehensive data on this issue, many decision-makers remain unaware or unconvinced that it’s occurring. This project will change that.”
The project team will synthesize and analyze parcel and ownership data, map the relationship between corporate ownership and short-term rentals, and host a series sense-making sessions across the region to work with community organizations, legislators, and housing providers on strategies and policy responses.
This research comes as New York State took new steps to rein in speculative real estate practices. In their latest state budget, New York lawmakers imposed a 90-day waiting period before certain institutional investors can purchase one-family and two-family homes. This new law generally applies to entities that directly or indirectly own 10 or more homes, or have at least $30 million in net value or assets under management. The new law builds on other reforms such as the state’s LLC Transparency Act, which will require disclosure of beneficial owners of limited liability companies starting in 2026. These measures aim to level the playing field for first-time buyers and local residents in competitive housing markets.
By closing the current data gap on ownership consolidation, Pattern for Progress hopes to provide Mid-Hudson communities with information that can support local decision-making, support a more equitable playing field for housing access, and contribute to broader discussions on housing policy at the local state and national levels.
Burke Rehabilitation® Names to Newsweek’s 2025 List
Burke Rehabilitation®, a member of the Montefiore Health System, has been named to Newsweek’s 2025 list of America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers, ranking in the top ten of New York State’s rehabilitation centers – the only rehabilitation hospital in the Hudson Valley to make the list. This honor comes weeks after Burke was also named one of U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-26 Best Rehabilitation Hospitals.
“We are proud to again be recognized as one of Newsweek’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers in the nation,” said Scott Edelman, MBA, CPA, CFE, Burke Rehabilitation Executive Director. “At Burke, we are guided by our mission to provide the highest quality medical care and rehabilitation services to ensure that each patient achieves the maximum functional recovery from illness, injury, or disability.”
This year’s ranking honors the top 320 inpatient physical rehabilitation facilities in the U.S. In addition to ranking in the top ten for New York State, Burke’s Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Program was recognized as a ‘Standout Program.’ Its Commission on Acute Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)-accredited SCI Program focuses on improving patient’s quality of life following a spinal cord injury through a personalized care plan designed by each patient’s comprehensive and compassionate care team.
Beyond SCI, Burke has a wide range of expertise, including stroke care, orthopedics, cardiopulmonary, brain injury, amputation, and more, in settings conducive to the health and healing of patients on their recovery journey. The largest provider of stroke rehabilitation in New York, Burke takes a whole person approach to care, driving exceptional outcomes for even the most complex patients. This includes supporting patients with comorbidities – in 2024, Burke became the first and only freestanding rehabilitation hospital in the state to offer inpatient hemodialysis, filling a critical gap for patients with late-stage renal disease who require intensive rehabilitation.
Newsweek partnered with data intelligence platform Statista to rank America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers, based on the 25 states with the highest number of physical rehabilitation centers. For more information, visit Newsweek’s rankings.
