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HOLC map of Oakland, California, with areas shaded in red, blue, yellow, and green. Around the edges of the map, in tiny type, are listed all the streets of the city. At the top, in elegant lettering, reads "Thomas Bros./Map of/Oakland/Berkeley/Alameda/San Leandro/Piedmont/Emeryville/Albany." The lettering gets smaller as it goes down the list. Inset into the top right of the map is a black-and-white map of Hayward.

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Equity

Filling Commercial Vacancies with Food Pantries

When I tell people that food pantries can be a new and innovative way to help lift up communities, they look at me as if I’m a bit out of […]

Housing

The Best Thing I Didn’t Hear All Week

I’m in Lexington, Ky., this week for the National Community Land Trust Network conference, hosted by the Lexington Community Land Trust. The Lexington CLT had an unusual start—it was created […]

One-pager showing differences between municipal land banks and community land trusts. Image links to pdf version.
The Answer

Q: Is a Land Bank the Same as a Land Trust?

A: Nope. They are totally different, though complementary tools. This chart will walk you through the differences.

A Jazz in the Garden session at Clayton Williams Community Garden in Harlem.
Neighborhood Change

Hanging on to the Land

Community gardens and urban agriculture are crucial gathering places—and revitalizing forces—in neighborhoods with lots of vacancy and low values. But what happens to them when the market turns around?

Editor’s Note

Rethinking the Rescue

This time of economic uncertainty presents an opportunity for the community development movement to reinvent itself.

Community Development Field

From Eyesores to Assets: CDC Abandoned Property Strategies

To save a neighborhood that’s in danger of going down, you can’t simply add new homes. You have to put the process of decline in reverse

Community Development Field

Target: Problem Properties

Photo Courtesy of HANDS Inc. For 12 years the building at 151 Chapman Street (above) stood vacant on a prominent corner, a menacing landmark that attracted squatters and generated no […]