Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) is an organization based in Chinatown, Manhattan that advocates for civil rights and affordable housing, which it is also involved in developing.
The fire was caused by wiring and the landlord had previously shut off heat and hot water, leaving residents to use electric heaters.
The American Red Cross asked AAFE's executive director at the time, Doris Koo, to translate victims.
AAFE worked to create Equality Houses with Enterprise Community Partners, two low-income tenements, for a total of 59 units.
They were involved in developing "several hundred affordable units in rehabilitated buildings in Chinatown and the Lower East Side."