The work to save Harlem is urgent, as historic townhouse-lined blocks, Gothic-designed, faith-based institutions, and buildings that were sites for significant African American cultural and political accomplishments of the 19th and 20th centuries are being picked off, one by one, by real estate developers. Harlem is not protected from aggressive developers, who are quickly changing the face of Harlem’s landscape. Today, less than 20% of the buildings in Harlem are designated, while designation has been awarded to 66% of the buildings in Greenwich Village, and 50% of the buildings on the Upper East and West Sides.

Immediately upon organizing in 2015, SHN! began lobbying the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) for more designations in Harlem. SHN! supported the extension of the Mount Morris Park Historic District, and successfully lobbied for landmark status for six properties, including the Harlem YMCA, which had languished on the LPC calendar for decades.

One of SHN!’s noteworthy accomplishments was spearheading the effort to designate the Central Harlem West 130th - 132nd Streets Historic District in 2018. In 2021, SHN! supported the efforts of the West Harlem Community Preservation Organization and the Dorrance Brooks Square Property Owners and Residents Association to secure designation of the Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District, the first New York City historic district named in honor of an African American. Also in 2021, the Harlem Branch Library, frequented by the well-known and respected writers Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, was designated as an individual landmark. In 2023, the iconic Hotel Cecil and Minton’s Playhouse, where bebop was developed and refined, received a long overdue individual landmark designation.