Home People of the Year Huntington Station resident offers housing help, aid to Latino community
Huntington Station resident offers housing help, aid to Latino community
People of the Year
Times of Huntington-Northport
by Sara-Megan Walsh - January 5, 2019
Pilar Moya, center, stands to protest President Donald Trump's immigration laws at a Huntington rally this June. Photo by Eve Krief
Generous, warm and intelligent are a few of the adjectives Huntington residents use to describe one Huntington Station resident.
Pilar Moya — also known as Moya-Mancera — has dedicated her life to community activism, in particular aiding Town of Huntington residents and its Latino communities.
"I've always been a public servant, always," Moya said. "That's my passion, my love."
"[Pilar Moya] is always standing up for what is right."
— Eve Krief
During the day, Moya works as executive director of Greenlawn-based nonprofit Housing Help, a certified housing counseling agency that has served town residents for more than 30 years. She helps ensure the organization provides housing counseling, financial literacy, and credit and debit education for residents of Long Island. Her clients often include first-time home buyers, seniors, low-income families and people suffering with student loan debt.
Since taking leadership of the nonprofit in 2017, Moya has initiated several affordable housing counseling and advocacy programs.
"I call my agency tiny but mighty," Moya said.
Housing Help was able to assist more than a thousand clients last fiscal year.
"That's for the entire Suffolk County," she said. "Our impact for the Town of Huntington was 702 clients."
Moya brings fresh ideas, a positive spirit and drive to the agency.
"She jumps in with both feet at all times," said Michele Martines, of Huntington. "Whatever she's interested in or feels like is worthwhile."
When she's not working at Housing Help, Moya created the nonprofit Latinos Unidos en Long Island, an organization that aids Latino immigrants by assisting in obtaining and providing legal aid, support and housing help. The organization started in Huntington and rapidly expanded across Long Island.
"She is always standing up for what is right," said Dr. Eve Krief, a Huntington pediatrician and founder of the Long Island Inclusive Communities Against Hate advocacy group.
"I've always been a public servant, always. That's my passion, my love."
— Pilar Moya
Moya partnered with Krief to assist with the Families Belong Together rallies in Huntington, to protest against the immigration policies of President Donald Trump (R), including the separation of children from their mother at the border.
At the second rally held June 30, nearly 50 organizations and close to 1,000 people attended, according to Krief.
"We hope our rally displays the love and compassion we hope that America can represent as well as the hopeful and powerful nature of our democracy," Moya said at the event. "Our message to the families separated at the border is, 'You matter — and our voices are our extensions of yours.'"
Krief shared that she can always count on Moya for help even when she's "doing a thousand other things."
In addition to Housing Help and Latinos Unidos, Moya participates in many different local organizations including co-chairing the Hispanic Task Force, Suffolk County Hispanic Advisory Board, serving as a steering committee member of Huntington Township Housing Coalition, and as a member of the town's Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
"I guess I have been blessed that I am able to do this work because I have a good team of leaders that work side by side with me," Moya said.
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