Kristine Johnson presents a news segment covering the NYC dedication ceremony of Jimmy Carter Way on Oct. 6, 2025. (CBS News New York)
On World Habitat Day, local officials in Manhattan’s East Village unveiled a sign proclaiming East 6th Street between Avenues C and D as “Jimmy Carter Way,” in a celebration featuring Habitat CEO Jonathan Reckford and leaders from Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County.
The newly co-named street is in the shadows of the Mascot Flats building that was the site of the first weeklong Habitat project led by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in 1984. “That was when the world found out about Habitat for Humanity,” said Reckford.
President and Mrs. Carter worked with residents and volunteers to rehabilitate the building and went on to inspire volunteers to build, renovate or repair more than 4,400 homes in 14 countries as part of the Carter Work Project.
Don Kao, a Habitat homeowner and original shareholder from Mascot Flats said, “President Carter was a role model to me — someone who did the work that needed to be done because it was necessary. He believed housing is a human right, that food insecurity has no place in a country like ours, and that the basic needs we consider human rights should be guaranteed for all. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter didn’t just believe that — they lived it.”
Learn more about the Carter Work Project
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This year marks a poignant milestone—the first Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project since President Jimmy Carter’s passing. Held in Austin, Texas, the 2025 project will build 25 affordable, energy-efficient homes in the Whisper Valley development.
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Jonathan shares an update about the unveiling of Jimmy Carter Way in New York City on World Habitat Day, honoring the site of the first Carter Work Project back in 1984.
