What Are CLTS?

The Origins of CLTs

Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are deeply rooted in Black resistance and serve as a vital tool for Black communities to build wealth and counter racial planning and the forces of gentrification.

In 1968, New Communities Inc. was established as the first non-profit organization specifically created to implement the CLT model. Civil rights activists Robert Swann, Slater King, C.B. King, Charles and Shirley Sherrod, and others founded it on 5,735 acres of rural land near Albany, Georgia.

Their vision was to create numerous residential and agricultural leaseholds for Black farming families. By the 1980s, the CLT movement expanded its focus to urban centers.

North American CLTs

Currently, there are over 20 active CLTs in Canada and more than 200 in the United States, with many more under development across North America.

CLTs in Toronto

Black-led Canadian CLTs

For more information about Canadian CLTs, visit communityland.ca.

Rooted in Black resistance

Communities in Control

Community land trusts are community-based, non-profit, non-governmental organizations aimed at securing long-term affordability and community control over space by removing land from the speculative market and gentrification pressures.

CLTs acquire land, through purchase or donation(s), and hold it in perpetuity for various community needs whether that be housing, urban agriculture, commercial space, cultural uses etc.

info@mysite.com