Owning Our Future: New Tools for Community Ownership of Real Estate

Learn about the University of Miami's Community Ownership for Health and Racial Equity Project, a new national research project.

Across the country, communities are testing new ways to take back control of the places they call home. Community ownership of real estate is a powerful and increasingly popular approach to keeping land and property affordable, preventing displacement, and building wealth that stays local. It’s also a pathway to advancing racial and health equity while deepening local democracy. In short, community ownership prioritizes collective opportunity, voice, and well-being over private profit.

This webinar introduces the partners, ideas, and research behind The Community Ownership Learning & Action Lab, a nationwide initiative led by the University of Miami's Community & Educational Well-Being Research Center (CEW-RC).

In this video, you'll hear from community ownership practitioners and researchers who are actively developing a new generation of tools for the field:
• Real-world case studies of community-owned housing and commercial spaces
• Policy, narrative, and capital tools to guide communities pushing for shared ownership
• An interactive platform to share resources and connect the field
• An innovation fund supporting emerging leaders and exploratory models

Each of these tools is designed to support practitioners throughout the US as they co-create on-the-ground solutions alongside their communities.

What does community ownership of real estate look like today, and where is the field headed?

About this Project
The Community Ownership Learning & Action Lab is a collaboration of national partners working to strengthen the field of community ownership. We study its full landscape, using community-driven research to co-create tools and strategies shaped by the people leading this work on the ground. Together, we’re building a research-backed blueprint: a clear, practical framework to anchor and grow the field nationwide..Learn more here!

Collaborators in this project include: Yes/And Strategies (Denver), Ground Works Consulting (Oakland), TheCaseMade (Orlando), Transform Finance (New York), Inclusive Action for the City (Los Angeles), Center for Community Wealth (Denver), Neighborhood Development Collaborative (Denver), and The Bridgespan Group (Boston).

This project is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of RWJF.

Artwork by Preeti Singh, Instagram: @preeeti____