Programs

Monthly Membership Meetings bring together residents from across BVCLT’s buildings and members of the communities we serve to build relationships, organize around community ownership, and strengthen the community land trust movement in Los Angeles. Through political education, leadership training, updates on housing justice campaigns, opportunities to engage in advocacy and policy efforts, organizational feedback, and discussions on BVCLT’s work, members help shape the future of the organization while building collective power to advance permanently affordable, community-controlled housing.

For questions, contact liz@bvclt.org

Tending to the Land and Ourselves is BVCLT’s cultural organizing and political education program that brings residents and community members together to deepen relationships, strengthen leadership, and build a shared understanding of housing justice and community ownership. Through workshops, cultural events, storytelling, healing practices, and collective learning, the program creates spaces where people can connect, reflect, celebrate, and organize toward long-term community power.

For questions, contact haejin@bvclt.org

In 2010, LAUSD purchased three multifamily properties in Koreatown with plans to demolish the buildings and build a surface parking lot. Local residents—who would later help found BVCLT—organized to challenge the plan. In 2011, a compromise preserved a corner of the site, which was transformed into what is now the White House Place Learning Garden.

Today, the garden provides rare green space in one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. It serves as a place for land stewardship, environmental education, and community gathering—demonstrating the power of collective care over land use decisions.

For questions, contact communitygarden@bvclt.org

For Resident Members Only

The Señoras For Housing (S4H) Limited Equity Housing Cooperative began in 2020 when immigrant, Black, and working-class women organized to stop displacement from the redevelopment of their building. They partnered with BVCLT to pursue cooperative ownership, and in June 2021 BVCLT acquired the property to preserve affordability and stabilize residents.

With technical support from the California Center for Cooperative Development, Public Counsel, and Gunzik & Gunzik & Heger, residents are now transitioning the building into a collectively owned limited equity housing cooperative.

Other BVCLT buildings are also exploring participatory budgeting and shared decision-making models as pathways toward collective ownership or long-term community stewardship.

BVCLT’s Community Power Fellowship engages members and residents in hands-on programming connected to our campaigns for permanent affordable housing and community ownership. The fellowship is rooted in three focus areas:

Leadership Development: Fellows build organizing, advocacy, and leadership skills through trainings that combine political analysis with socio-emotional support.

Context and Strategy: Participants join strategy sessions to understand how housing campaigns are structured, how power operates locally, and how on-the-ground organizing drives long-term change.

Outreach and Education: Fellows participate in direct outreach to expand awareness of community land trusts and mobilize neighbors to engage in housing justice efforts.

Program Status: The fellowship is currently closed.

Open to Members Only

As a community land trust, our real estate work focuses on preserving small multi-unit buildings with existing residents—ensuring permanent affordability, promoting community stewardship, and improving living conditions.

Our policy efforts center on securing public funding and resources to support preservation, expand tenant-led governance, and increase opportunities for community land trusts to participate in housing development.

We are committed to continuing to preserve housing in our community while pursuing new acquisition opportunities as they arise. When feasible, we are also exploring alternative housing models and new construction strategies that can serve community needs and strengthen long-term collective ownership.

The Community Real Estate Committee meets every other month to advise and support the Director of Real Estate & Asset Management. Committee members help review preservation and acquisition opportunities, discuss strategic priorities, and provide guidance that advances BVCLT’s community ownership goals.

Please note: We are not currently accepting new building project proposals at this time.

Open to Members Only

The Organizing & Stewardship Committee meets every other month to support and advise the Director of Resident & Land Stewardship on resident engagement, leadership development, and community stewardship efforts.

Committee members help strengthen resident governance, shape organizing strategies, provide input on member programming, and support opportunities for political education, cultural organizing, and collective care. The committee also helps ensure BVCLT’s work remains responsive to the needs and leadership of residents and the communities we serve.