South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT) is a community-led organization working to create permanently affordable housing, development without displacement, and zero waste in Baltimore.
We believe that people directly impacted by environmental, economic, and racial injustice must be in the lead to create development and transform communities. Building on this belief, we take land out of the extractive speculative sector and put it into the hands of the community to advance a proactive vision for development without displacement and zero waste.
SBCLT grew out of grassroots, youth-led efforts to stop the construction of what would have become the nation’s largest waste incinerator in South Baltimore more than 15 years ago. Through identifying neighborhood health hazards and advocating for a just transition away from polluting industries, we began imagining how different our neighborhoods would be if not dominated by industry.
Our values
Through our local work here in Baltimore, we aspire to a world that is:
- Democratic, where all people have the power to shape their communities, institutions and their societies.
- Decolonised, where all people determine their collective destiny free from oppression.
- Diverse, where difference is celebrated as strength.
- Just, that redresses inequity in our societies and the legacy of our shared history.
- Liberated, where all identities enjoy equal rights, recognition, and power.
- Regenerative, that respects planetary boundaries and protects frontline communities while replenishing rather than extracting from our environment.
- Solidaristic, where the struggle of each is the struggle of all.
- Peaceful, where violence is replaced by the diplomacy of peoples.
- Prosperous, that eradicates poverty and invests in a future of shared abundance.
