And remembering Charles Sherrod and John Whitfield.
IN THIS EDITION:
- World CLT Day: This Coming Friday and Saturday!
- Remembering Charles Sherrod and John Whitfield
- Schedule of Upcoming Events
- CLT Brussels Celebration on October 29th - Book Launch for Community Matters on November 14th
- Recording of Webinar on Land Reform in Scotland
We’re inviting all CLTs around the world to come together on October 28th and 29th to join us in celebration of the community land trust movement. We’re a diverse and widespread movement, and World CLT Day is an opportunity to give visibility to the growing community of CLTs and share your exciting work with peers around the globe.
Our theme is "community matters" to acknowledge the importance of putting the "C" in CLT, and all the ways that CLTs engage with their local communities.
How do you participate? Just upload a video, photo, or text featuring people and places from your CLT to Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #worldcltday2022. Check out the World CLT Day website for the details on how to participate.
Remembering Charles Sherrod and John Whitfield
We recently lost two long-time champions of community land trusts: the Rev. Charles Sherrod and the Rev. John Whitfield.
Charles Sherrod (1937-2022) moved to Albany, Georgia in 1961 to do voter registration among disenfranchised African Americans, working as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Eight years later, he was one of the founders of New Communities Inc., widely considered the world’s first CLT. He later led the organization through the turbulent years of its rise, fall, and rebirth. The story of New Communities is told in the documentary film, Arc of Justice, in which the Rev. Sherrod voices a sentiment that continues to resonate with CLTs today: “All power comes from the land.”
John Whitfield (1950-2022) became involved with community land trusts in 2009, when he joined the board of the National CLT Academy (USA). He had previously served as Executive Director of the Baldwin Housing Alliance in Alabama and was a trainer for NeighborWorks America. At the time of his death, he was serving on the board of the Center for CLT Innovation. He embraced CLTs because he believed they could help to make the “beloved community” a reality, an aspirational goal expressed by him in the opening chapter of Community Matters, the latest publication from Terra Nostra Press.
We at the Center mourn the loss of these remarkable men, while celebrating two lives well-lived in their service to others.
On October 29th, World CLT Day, Community Land Trust Brussels celebrates both its tenth anniversary and having been selected to receive the World Habitat Award! A whole day of festivities is planned, to be broadcast live on Brussels community radio stations Panik and Radio Publik between 15:30 and 18:00 (CET). The celebration will feature Community Land Trust leaders from around the world and people from the Brussels CLT community. DJ Oncle Kinch will host the show, where music from Brussels and Kinshasa will be interspersed with interviews in English, French, Spanish and Dutch.
Please join us in celebrating the publication of the latest book from Terra Nostra Press, Community Matters. This webinar will bring together CLT practitioners from Boston, Brussels, London, Houston, and San Juan whose perspectives on community organizing and resident engagement are featured in the book. The book’s contributors will be reflecting on questions and issues that come from editor John Emmeus Davis — as well as from webinar attendees.
This webinar will be offered with simultaneous translation in English and Spanish.
Book Description
Community Matters: Conversations with Reflective Practitioners about the Value and Variety of Resident Engagement in Community Land Trusts is the first in our interview series of publications, featuring leading CLT practitioners from around the globe.
Community land trusts (CLTs) are distinguished from many other nonprofit housing developers by the degree to which residents of the places served by a CLT are woven into the culture, structure, and operation of the organization itself. This participatory element — the “C” in CLT — is just as important to what a CLT is and does as its distinctive approach to the ownership of land and the stewardship of housing.
The practitioners featured in the present volume epitomize the persistence of this commitment to community — and its complexity. Working with CLTs in Boston, Brussels, Houston, London, and San Juan, they have championed a variety of strategies for giving residents an active voice in planning and development. They have also changed strategies when needed. The stories of these experienced practitioners explore the whys and ways of keeping “community” alive in organizations like theirs. They offer a virtual master class in resilient resident engagement.
We had a great webinar on October 25th -- if you were not able to attend, you can check out the recording (and presentation slides) on the event page. Many thanks to moderator Annabel Pidgeon, and our presenters David Stewart, Linsay Chalmers, and Nick Walker.
