For a Brooklyn Haitian nonprofit, new property signals strides in building collective wealth

Amid an ICE enforcement surge that destabilized housing for immigrant families in Minneapolis, residents organized a grassroots rent relief effort that distributed about $14 million across 40 community funds. The community-driven response bypassed typical income restrictions and eligibility requirements by relying on trusted neighborhood relationships, which contributed to a dip in eviction filings in January and February. Their organizing effort also pressured state lawmakers to pass a $40 million emergency rental assistance bill.

Faced with inadequate internet service that was driving away businesses, the remote West Texas town of Monahans launched a community-driven initiative to build its own fiber optic broadband network. The town cobbled together $3.2 million from a variety of sources, including federal CARES Act funds and venture capital, to create an underground fiber network that serves about 2,000 homes and businesses, with plans to expand.

By offering flexible rent, a Philadelphia nonprofit allows low-income residents to attain economic success. Financed through an initial endowment, the Women’s Community Revitalization Projected is sustained by support from independent donations and Philadelphia’s low-income housing tax credits. In addition to offering affordable housing and residents’ services to Philadelphia’s low-income women and families, the WCRP also operates a community land trust to help address future development concerns in the city.

A non-traditional program called the Family Independence Initiative (F.I.I.), uses a radically different approach from the traditional American social service model to empower entire families alleviate themselves from poverty. The results in multiple states thus far have been so striking, that this model of self-sufficiency may be able to have a significant impact reducing poverty nationwide.

Los Angeles is partnering with two nonprofits, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC), to accelerate sidewalk repairs ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. LANI has spent over two decades helping council districts fix broken sidewalks more cheaply and flexibly than the city's official process, and LACC pairs the repair work with paid job training for youth ages 18–26, with 30 participants already completing the program.

Many small towns in rural Appalachia are struggling to adapt to the greater evolutions of the American economy away from the coal industry. But some places, like the little town of Hemphill in Kentucky, are using the opportunity to get creative with local enterprise and unite the community in launching new ventures. The Hemphill Community Center is now a central resource for launching new small businesses, arts and cultural events, and fostering shared resources and renewed growth for the town.

Hundreds of immigrants in Houston often have no access to any social aid. One community, East Aldine, exemplifies this. It lacks sewers, water, or trash collection. But, with the help of one nonprofit residents are bypassing the city, and getting the help they need.

A community land trust in Fresno's Tower District used a combination of CDFI financing, foundation grants, and donations to acquire its first commercial property, bringing an indie bookstore to a neighborhood where high rents previously made that impossible. The land trust has also produced a new community park and favorable city zoning changes, demonstrating how CLTs can extend beyond affordable housing to support broader community development.

Honor the Earth is an anti-data center coalition monitoring the construction of hyperscale data centers in or near indigenous land. Through their efforts, town halls, doorknocking, attending tribal council meetings and more, they’ve formed a community with people in agriculture and beyond, working to push back against data center construction and enact protections for communities. As a result of their efforts, the Tulsa City Council signed a 9-month moratorium on data centers, and the Seminole Nation also unanimously passed its own moratorium.

The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), enacted in Washington, D.C. in 1980, gives tenants the right of first refusal when their building is put up for sale. The law requires landlords to notify tenants before selling, allowing residents to purchase the property themselves, form cooperative ownership, or assign their rights to affordable housing nonprofits. Since forming, TOPA, with the help of several local housing and tenant organizations, has preserved thousands of homes in D.C.