About

The Community Stewardship of Land website is a joint project of the Community Real Estate Stewardship Team (CREST, see list below), Puget Sound Sage, Multicultural Community Coalition, Na’ah Illahee Fund, and Rainier Beach Action Coalition. The website was shaped by all of the collaborating organizations and is offered as collective learning and a call to action. 

CREST is a “learning circle” and community network, sponsored by King County Communities of Opportunity and co-led by three organizations:  Puget Sound Sage, Multicultural Community Coalition, and Na’ah Illahee Fund.  CREST was designed to support and train grassroots organizations serving low-income communities and BIPOC communities pursuing community driven development, land stewardship, and strategies for long-term affordability.  This website is a culmination of the past two years of co-learning, research, and visioning by the CREST network.  

Additional research and visioning was done in parallel by Puget Sound Sage, Multicultural Community Coalition, and Rainier Beach Action Coalition as part of a joint project preparing for the impacts of “disaster gentrification” caused by the COVID-19 economic and public health crisis. This project was sponsored by Seattle Foundation.  In addition to this website, the three organizations have published a separate report, called Disaster Gentrification in King County and How to Stop it From Happening Again. 

CREST participants from 2019 through 2021 include the following organizations

• Africatown Community Land Trust

• Cham Refugee Community 

• Debre Mihret Kidus Mikael Ethiopian Church 

• Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition

• East African Community Services

• Estelita's Library

• Global to Local

• Got Green

• Hilltop Urban Gardens

• Ingersoll Gender Center 

Inspirations 

In the course of our exploration and learning about community stewardship of land, we encountered many amazing organizations and community leaders that have gone before us, either in the struggle to bring land and housing under community control, or developing visionary models that we can replicate.  Specifically, we want to recognize the following organizations:  

• The Democracy Collaborative 

• Movement Generation 

• The New Economy Coalition 

Individual Credits 

Funding:  King County Communities of Opportunity and Seattle Foundation 

CREST Leadership Team:  Kayla Jackson (Puget Sound Sage), Asmeret Habte (Multicultural Community Coalition), and Lindsay Goes Behing (Na’ah Illahee Fund) 

Disaster Gentrification Team:  Yordanos Teferi (Multicultural Community Coalition), Gregory Davis (Rainier Beach Action Coalition), Howard Greenwich (Puget Sound Sage), Eliana Horn (Consultant, Interdependent Law)

Puget Sound Sage Contributors:  Ab Juaner, Elena Perez, Abdi Yussuf, Giulia Pasciuto, Jessica Ramirez, and Yasmeen Perez

Design: Nicole Ramirez nclrmrz.com 
Illustrations: Ana Vonhuben anavonhuben.com

Please email any comments or questions about this website to kayla [at] pugetsoundsage.org