{"id":3002,"date":"2026-06-23T17:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3002"},"modified":"2026-06-23T17:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:34:16","slug":"from-renter-to-owner-sharpton-locks-in-national-action-networks-harlem-foothold-for-the-long-haul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3002","title":{"rendered":"From renter to owner, Sharpton locks in National Action Network’s Harlem foothold for the long haul"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The Rev. Al Sharpton\u2019s staff and advisers stood around him just outside the doors of a cozy theater, where some of his most fervent supporters waited to greet him in the newly renovated headquarters of the National Action Network.<\/p>\n

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When doors flung open, Sharpton entered to a standing ovation that continued until he was perched behind a lectern, on a stage decorated with a floor-to-ceiling video screen.<\/p>\n

The audience was not anticipating a call for justice. Instead, the rabble-rousing youth minister turned go-to national advocate was there to declare his organization was officially an owner, no longer a renter, in the historically Black Harlem neighborhood it has called home for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make something permanent,\u201d Sharpton said recently to the gathered crowd of NAN board members, local clergy and other allies. \u201cWhen people see that you\u2019ve bought a building, they say, \u2018Wait a minute, they\u2019re not going nowhere.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

NAN\u2019s new permanent home is the former Faison Firehouse Theater on Hancock Place, near the intersection of 124th Street and Manhattan Avenue. George Faison, a Tony Award-winning choreographer known for his work in the original 1970s Broadway staging of \u201cThe Wiz,\u201d had bought the firehouse in 1999 and converted it into a community theater.<\/p>\n

When Faison had a choice between selling the former firehouse in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood to a large developer or selling it to NAN, he chose the latter, according to Sharpton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 71 years old \u2014 if I was just trying to do it as an Al Sharpton personal fan club, I could just keep renting,\u201d Sharpton told The Associated Press during an interview in his new private office, with large windows overlooking central Harlem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m buying it to show I want this to be an institution. I want it to last beyond me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the renovation is structurally complete and its rooms are functional, Sharpton said he expects his weekly Saturday rallies to resume in the new headquarters this summer.<\/p>\n

From renting to owning<\/p>\n

Founded in 1991, NAN began meeting at P.S. 175, a Manhattan elementary school, during the tenure of the late David Dinkins, New York City\u2019s first Black mayor. Next, NAN rented a space at 125th Street and Madison Avenue. In 2006, Sharpton moved NAN into a rented space at 145th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, where it operated until January.<\/p>\n

NAN’s headquarters had been named the \u201cHouse of Justice\u201d by his late mentor, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.<\/p>\n

Often organizing from his Harlem headquarters, Sharpton became known staging direct-action protests on behalf of Black men killed, brutalized or persecuted by police in New York City: Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, the exonerated men formerly known as the Central Park Five, and Eric Garner, among others.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHarlem means home,\u201d Sharpton told the AP.<\/p>\n

The new NAN headquarters now carries the name \u201cHouse of Justice Rev. Jesse Jackson\u2019s Workshop,\u201d following the multimillion dollar purchase and renovation of its five floors. Sharpton said he will invite artists to hold salons, poetry readings and jazz nights, as a callback to the Black cultural and intellectual movement of the Harlem Renaissance.<\/p>\n

Looking out at his supporters during the invite-only reception for the new space, Sharpton reflected not just on the NAN\u2019s past, but on the current cultural and political environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in trouble,\u201d he said in reference to redistricting fights set off by a recent Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act and the rolling back of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have, in my opinion, the luxury of not nailing down and working together,\u201d Sharpton said.<\/p>\n

Building on decades of local and national activism<\/p>\n

Over the years, the NAN headquarters has become a \u201ccan\u2019t skip\u201d campaign stop for Democratic candidates seeking everything from the presidency and Congress to state and local offices. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the House of Justice is typically standing room only for the dignitaries who show up.<\/p>\n

After the death of his childhood hero James Brown in 2006, the horse drawn carriage carrying the Godfather of Soul\u2019s golden casket stopped outside NAN\u2019s 145th Street headquarters.<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s weekly Saturday rallies have also been a venue for families grieving loss through police violence, or for celebrities to speak out and unfairness in the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n

Ashley Sharpton, the youngest of the reverend\u2019s two daughters, grew up around the House of Justice. She and her older sister, Dominique Sharpton-Bright, were there on the day the late pop icon Michael Jackson visited and spoke at the invitation of their dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe magic was palpable,\u201d Ashley recalled.<\/p>\n

Now, as founder and director of NAN\u2019s youth initiatives, Ashley feels deeper stake in the organization\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for us to step in and take ownership, literally, of what is needed to maintain the legacy, and to continue the fight,\u201d she told the AP.<\/p>\n

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___<\/p>\n

Morrison is AP\u2019s race and ethnicity news editor.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The Rev. 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