Nehemiah: Making the American Dream possible for first-time homeowners

From CBS News: The Nehemiah project began in the 1980s building privately-owned homes on land that nobody wanted in East Brooklyn and sold the homes at prices that were affordable to working class families. Church and community organizers mobilized local politicians to sell the land for almost nothing and provide subsidies for community members and raise money that could be used for loans. The program has built 6,500 homes and created an estimated $1.5 billion of wealth for first time Black and Latino homeowners.

Click here to read the original story.

Issue Areas:

Housing, Land Use, Sustainable Development

Impact Areas:

Distributed Trust and Power, Equity

Actors:

BIPOC Communities, Lending, Banking, and Financial Institutions

Communities Served:

BIPOC Communities, Communities Experiencing Economic Hardship

Strategies:

Collective Action, Easing Economic Burdens for Individuals, Redefining Land / Land Ownership

Success Factors:

Building Distribution Systems, Eliminating Barriers, Embracing the Power of Relationships, Leveling the Playing Field, Meeting People Where They Are At, Overcoming the Big Challenges

Geographic Region:

North America

Countries:

United Kingdom

Date:

September 11, 2022

More Resources:

Conversation with Dr. Courtney Howard

Dr Courtney Howard is an Emergency Physician in Yellowknife, and is a nationally- and globally-recognized expert on the impacts of climate change on health, and in the broader field of planetary health. As the first female board President of the...

Conversation with Ana Rosa de Lima

Ana Rosa de Lima is the founder of Meli Bees Network gUG, a nonprofit driven by a new generation of climate activists from the Amazon. Her organization is dedicated to connecting Indigenous communities, researchers, and environmentally engaged groups around the...

Emirates Global Aluminium seeks to enhance all-round sustainability

From Gulf Today: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the UAE outside oil and gas, is among the first corporations in the region to open sustainable corporate bank accounts, which ensure cash balances are used to finance or...

Results From The City That Just Gave Away Cash

From Emma Peaslee / NPR: A guaranteed income pilot program in Stockton, California, resulted in improved mental health and even increased full-time employment rates. The extra cash gave recipients who were struggling with poverty the mental and financial bandwidth to...

Conversation with Alison Guzman

Alison Guzman is the Country Program Co-Director of MAPLE Microdevelopment Chile. As the co-director of a team based in Wallmapu (Mapuche Ancestral lands), they apply decolonizing methodologies, where indigenous local knowledge and local wisdom-based systems are prioritized to enhance an...

Conversation with Tara Campbell

Tara Campbell (she/her) is a designer specializing in change-enabling collaborative processes. In her role at the David Suzuki Foundation, she is working alongside a national network of organizations, alliances, and individuals to accelerate the transition to economies that prioritize wellbeing...