Justice Demands Proximity Initiative
A year- long formation and leadership intitiative
Who is this for?
- Clergy
- GHIAA Leaders and Issue Team Members
- North Hartford Public Safety Coalition Leaders
- Urban Suburban Affordables homeowners
- Community Partners
Why?
This initiative asks us to move beyond advocacy from a distance and toward relationships, analysis, and action rooted in proximity to those most impacted by injustice.
Over the next year, leaders will:
- Build genuine and accountable relationships
- Deepen social analysis and political understanding
- Connect lived experience to issue campaigns
- Transform learning into organized public action
There will be specific opportunities for BIPOC leaders including:
Workshops on Black Mental Health
Workshops on Latino Challenges in Anti-Racism Work
Workshops on Healing Justice
Caregiving Crisis Support
Conflict Resolution with Power and Privilege in Mind
What Will We Do?
This initiative asks us to move beyond advocacy from a distance and toward relationships, analysis, and action rooted in proximity to those most impacted by injustice.
We will achieve this through:
- Immersive experiences
Higher commitment
Deeper engagement
- Required prep session
- Required reflection session
- Cultural experiences
Participate in at least one cultural experience
- Celebrate and learn from communities different from your own
- Training and Leadership development
Experiences
Registration
Eviction Court Observations
BIPOC Affinity Space- Anti-Racism Training
USA an affiliate organization established through the collaboration between the Center for Leadership and Justice and the Hartford Housing Authority. Urban Suburban Affordables is an ownership community land trust, offering low and moderate-income families the opportunity to buy a home at an affordable rate.
How it works:
By purchasing a home through the USA, homeowners will get a 99-year renewable and inheritable lease on the land. If the homeowner decides to sell, they must follow the resale stipulations, a calculated formula that allows the home to remain affordable for the next buyer but also allows the owner to gain some equity in the home.
Combating Anti-Latine Bigotry
Combating Anti-Muslim Bigotry
In 2023 the Center for Leadership and Justice, in partnership with researchers from the University of Connecticut, conducted an evaluation of Urban Suburban Affordables. The evaluation highlighted not only the value that homeowners and communities realized from the program, but it confirmed the importance of community land trusts, in general, as a value tool to protect affordable housing. Urban Suburban Affordables is one of the largest community land trusts in the United States.
With that information, CLJ has committed to reinvesting and reinvigorating the USA program. In 2025, the organization will reconstitute the USA Board of Directors and consider ways to impact affordable homeownership in Greater Hartford.
FAQ
What is a Community Land Trust?
Community land trusts (CLTs) are non-profit organizations that hold land and lease it out to serve the community’s needs. According to ShelterForce, CLTs can be managed in various ways— communities may use land to support agriculture or small business interests, etc.— but CLTs primarily operate to provide affordable housing.
What is the Urban Suburban Affordables (USA) program?
USA an affiliate organization established through the collaboration between the Center for Leadership and Justice and the Hartford Housing Authority. Urban Suburban Affordables is an ownership community land trust, offering low and moderate-income families the opportunity to buy a home at an affordable rate.
How it works:
By purchasing a home through the USA, homeowners will get a 99-year renewable and inheritable lease on the land. If the homeowner decides to sell, they must follow the resale stipulations, a calculated formula that allows the home to remain affordable for the next buyer but also allows the owner to gain some equity in the home.
Can I purchase a USA home?
Is CLJ looking to expand the USA program?
In 2023 the Center for Leadership and Justice, in partnership with researchers from the University of Connecticut, conducted an evaluation of Urban Suburban Affordables. The evaluation highlighted not only the value that homeowners and communities realized from the program, but it confirmed the importance of community land trusts, in general, as a value tool to protect affordable housing. Urban Suburban Affordables is one of the largest community land trusts in the United States.
With that information, CLJ has committed to reinvesting and reinvigorating the USA program. In 2025, the organization will reconstitute the USA Board of Directors and consider ways to impact affordable homeownership in Greater Hartford.