A guide that explains what a Community Land Trust is, what they look like in New York City, and how to get involved.

Community Partners

<h2>What’s the issue? </h2>
Across New York City, Black, brown, and immigrant communities experience high levels of displacement from their neighborhoods due to gentrification, rising rent, and real estate development that prioritizes profit over people. One way that New Yorkers are fighting back and protecting their communities is through Community Land Trusts (or CLTs).
A CLT is a community-led nonprofit that owns and takes care of land. They make sure the land and what’s on top of it—housing, community spaces, and more—are used for the long-term benefit of the community. Across the country, CLTs support rural, urban, and suburban communities, and one of the first models of a CLT was formed in 1969.

NYC’s longest-running CLT, Cooper Square CLT in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, was founded in 1994 and owns and operates close to 400 affordable apartments and dozens of storefronts. Since then, the movement has grown to include 20 CLTs across all five boroughs. Despite this history and growth, most New Yorkers likely have not heard the term CLT before. Even those familiar with the concept of CLTs struggle with the idea of collectively owning or managing land in New York City. In order to get involved in CLTs and push the movement for community ownership and land and housing justice forward, residents need to feel confident and informed about how CLTs relate to them and their needs.
<a href="https://nyccli.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The New York City Community Land Initiative</a> (NYCCLI) is an alliance of over 40 community, affordable housing, and social justice groups fighting for CLTs. As part of their organizing work, NYCCLI does neighborhood-specific outreach and hosts training and workshops with tenants, residents, and community groups interested in CLTs. They needed a resource to help introduce people to CLTs in an easy-to-understand, relatable, and energizing way. 
<h2>What did we make? </h2>
NYCCLI collaborated with CUP and illustrator and designer Ishita Jain to create Bringing Land and Housing into Community Hands, a guide for New Yorkers who live in neighborhoods where CLTs exist but might not know what a CLT is or how it relates to them.
Bringing Land and Housing into Community Hands explains what a Community Land Trust is, what they look like across New York City, and how community members can participate. New Yorkers will be able to see what organizing with their neighbors can accomplish and what CLTs can advocate for in their community. 
<h2>How did we make it?</h2>

We spoke with current members of CLTs and other residents to learn about their experience with CLTs. Over the course of the project we met with organizers and community members involved with several Bronx CLTs, residents of the East Harlem El Barrio CLT (EHEBCLT), and other community members who were curious to learn more.
We learned from community members that one of the biggest roadblocks to understanding CLTs are the technical questions that come up when they are first introduced to them. Organizers often hear, “What does it mean to separate the land from everything on top of the land?” and “What does collective ownership mean?” Community members emphasized that instead of leaning into these technical details, the tool we create should address how a CLT can bring the things they want and need, like affordable housing, into their neighborhoods. When asked what would be compelling for them to hear, they wanted answers to questions like, “How can CLTs support me and my neighbors?” “What are CLTs already doing in my neighborhood?”, “How do I get involved?”
To create a more accessible entry point into CLTs, we moved away from the more technical diagrams often used to describe how they work. Community members affirmed this focus. They gravitated towards illustrations of people in action and wanted to see more illustrations of the places they imagine for their communities. They emphasized the joy, play, and liveliness of their neighborhoods and were excited to hear that CLTs could add resources and be accessible for everyone. Their suggestions shaped the diverse array of illustrated scenes throughout the resource: daycares, children and young adults playing outside, recreational space for seniors, and many more.

We incorporated case studies of six New York City CLTs. Because most CLTs are formed by people already organizing for something specific in their communities, it felt meaningful to showcase the diverse community needs that CLTs across the city have addressed and continue to fight for. Community members helped us figure out what content to prioritize for these case studies. They wanted to emphasize what the community was originally organizing for when the CLT formed, and what the CLT is working on now. They also helped define the visual look of each case study, preferring illustrations of people participating in CLT activities over illustrations of the buildings they've acquired.

Participants after the third community session, where they reviewed our first full draft of the resource.

Bringing Land and Housing into Community Hands will be distributed by NYCCLI across the city through community workshops, CLT 101 trainings, neighborhood planning sessions, and more. Individual CLTs will distribute the guide as part of their outreach and organizing with neighbors and community members. CLTs will also use the guide to build partnerships with community organizations, policy makers, funders, and mission-aligned developers.

The guide begins by introducing what a CLT is, their history, and examples of CLTs organized across the country. Folding out to the right, it expands on how a CLT works and different ways that readers can participate in one. It then opens up to a poster spotlighting six NYC CLTs: <a href="https://ehebclt.nyc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">East Harlem El Barrio CLT</a>, <a href="https://www.thelandstewards.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards</a>, <a href="https://wqclt.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Western Queens CLT</a>, <a href="https://www.eastnewyorkclt.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">East New York CLT</a>, the <a href="https://www.growhousenyc.org/land-liberation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BLAC Land Trust</a>, and <a href="https://www.realedgemereclt.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ReAL Edgemere CLT</a>.

Check Out the Project

NYCCLI spreads digital

CUP
<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/clair-beltran" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Clair Beltran</a><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/sarah-auches" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sarah Auches</a>

Community Partner
<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/nyccli" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NYC Community Land Initiative</a>

Designers
<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/ishita-jain" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ishita Jain</a>

Project Collaborators

Good Cause NYC

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Hyperakt is a purpose-driven design and innovation studio that elevates human dignity and ignites curiosity. Since 2001, co-founders Julia Zeltser and Deroy Peraza, along with the Hyperakt team, have been partnering with change-makers moving society forward. We believe in design’s power to build a future filled with courage, optimism, and honesty.

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The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement in partnership with historically marginalized communities.

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