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 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...

eToro Launches GoodDollar And Begins Delivering Universal Basic Income

From Lawrence Wintermeyer / Forbes: GoodDollar is a basic income product that works via the public blockchain network. Because blockchain is decentralized and public, this platform could be used globally, non-reliant on any one government. GoodDollar uses G$ coins which...

Conversation with Ignacio Saiz

Ignacio Saiz is an independent consultant and advisor on issues of human rights and economic justice. He previously served as Executive Director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights, an international NGO that works for a rights-based economy, and...

Conversation with Anita Chandra

Anita Chandra (she/her) is vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being and a senior policy researcher at RAND. The division that she leads covers a range of topics at the intersection of social and economic policy and...

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...

Conversation with Luke Shankland

Luke Shankland is a South African/Canadian professional with over 20 years of experience in health tech, focusing on scaling impactful health solutions across Africa. As co-founder and COO of Aviro Health, he has led initiatives that have provided digital health...