HOME & HANDS—COMMUNITY LAND TRUSTS IN ACTION
INTRODUCING A NEW WAY TO PROVIDE PERMANENTLY AFFORDABLE HOUSING
OUR ASSIGNMENT: National Community Land Trust Network (successor to the original Institute for Community Economics) needed a way to motivate community groups, low-income residents, and bankers to work together to create permanently affordable home ownership opportunities.
PROCESS: We worked with NCLTN to identify three different types of community land trusts using existing and new home stock, select three cities to visit to capture excellent examples of each type, and cull down the key concepts about how land trusts work into accessible, inspiring language. Homes & Hands shows how community land trusts (CLTs) can help homebuyers overcome an increasingly discriminating and competitive real estate market while building and restoring community bonds. We also helped raise the funds for the production of the film.
RESULTS: Homes and Hands has been screened in hundreds of communities to both explain the nuts and bolts of how community land trusts operate and to inspire new CLTS to get off the ground.
““GroundSpark clearly demonstrated the nuts and bolts of the Community Land Trust model through intimate portraits of real communities in a social change movement. By combining factual information with engaging personal stories, they produced an inspiring and informative film that is widely used in training and outreach programs.””
TEAM:
- Producer Helen S. Cohen
- Directors Debra Chasnoff and Helen S. Cohen
- Directors of Photography Stephen McCarthy and Rick Butler
- Editor Shirley Thompson