“It always seems impossible until it is done.”


— Nelson Mandela

Our collaborative effort builds off community-centered development strategies successfully implemented and proven in Black neighborhoods throughout the country that were led by the people at the table here.

Market Creek Plaza (San Diego)

Backed by the Jacobs Foundation, the 50-acre Market Creek Plaza development is a national model for community ownership from start to finish.

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Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (Boston)

Responding to decades of neglect, residents came together to implement a national model for community-centered planning and organizing in the Roxbury community of Boston. Paul Yelder, the first executive director of the area’s community land trust Dudley Neighbors, Inc. is a Leimert Park resident is one of Downtown Crenshaw technical advisors.

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Rolland Curtis Gardens (South L.A.)

Rolland Curtis Garden is an inspiring example of a community organizing to take back the land from a powerful developer who sought to displace residents. Malcolm Harris, a Chesterfield Square resident and organizer during that campaign is one of the Downtown Crenshaw technical advisors.

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The Cleveland Model (Cleveland, OH)

In Cleveland, Ohio anchor institutions (hospitals and universities), the government and non-profit organizations are coming together to implement a new model of large-scale worker-owned and community-benefiting businesses.

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We have done this before, and we will do it here!