EAST NEW YORK CLT INITIATIVE
We are an organization of community leaders and activists dedicated to preserving affordability for future generations and providing a vehicle to create generational wealth. The CLT seeks to own land and lease the land to the owners of the buildings and other uses on the land.
MISSION:
To protect, stabilize and expand the stock of affordable homes, locally-owned small businesses and green spaces in East New York and Brownsville for the benefit of low- to moderate- income, black and brown residents. The CLT exerts control over the built, social and natural environment through community organizing, education, and property ownership.
VISION:
Our vision is for a healthy, self-sustaining community where our needs are provided ‘for us, by us’ and where we can build the generational wealth of the whole community.
PRINCIPLES:
- Collective action
- Racial equity
- Community experience and expertise
- Forward-thinking while learning from history
- Curiosity and experimentation
- Flexibility and adaptability
- Community benefit over profit
STRATEGIES:
- Promote permanently and truly affordable housing
- Protect existing spaces and create new affordable spaces for locally-owned small businesses
- Protecting and promoting environmentally sustainable land uses such as green spaces, gardens and parks.
- Provide financial education and housing counseling
- Provide education around social movements, history, systemic issues
- Developing community leadership
- Ensuring that young people and seniors have a voice through intergenerational organizing