About

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