Presentation from Park Pride's 2015 Parks and Greenspace Conference. The presenters are Miriam Avins and Robin Cline. Two greenspace enthusiasts will discuss the benefits and workings of local land trusts, entities that own land for the benefit of others. Using Baltimore Green Space (Baltimore) and NeighborSpace (Chicago) as the framework, this presentation will explore mechanisms of creating land trusts, as well as the challenges of maintaining them. The panelists will share strategies for navigating internal conflict, maintenance problems, and misunderstandings to keep well-loved greenspace in the hands of community members.

1. How to Grow a Local
Land Trust
Robin Cline
Assistant Director
Miriam Avins
Executive Director

7. Baltimore
1950
950,000

8. Baltimore
since
1950s…

9. Baltimore
2010
621,000

12. Community-Managed
Open Spaces by Area

14. Community Managed Land Use in Chicago

15. Chicago
Park
District
Forest
Preserve
District of
Cook County
Neighbor
Space

18. 6062Tree
Little Village

19. This is not about
community gardening.
It's not.
-Ms. Mary Peery

20. This is like a
sanctuary.
People won’t
mess with you
in here.

21. People have a tendency
to be blind about really
what’s going on with life.
Here you can help each
other grow and heal with
a lot of the oppression
that people go through.

24. Riverbank Neighbors
Hoxie Prairie
Merchant Park

25. Community-Managed Open
Spaces in Baltimore

41. Two “Generations” of
Land Trust

42. Chicago
• founded 1996
• 100+ sites protected
• strong government
involvement
• government funded/
long term
• new focuses:
-stewarding the steward
-neighborhood networks
-new leadership models
-new models of outdoor
space
Baltimore
• founded 2007
• 7 sites protected
• grassroots
• fellowship to start
• additional areas:
- advocacy
- forest patches

43. The Role of the Land Trust –
Generation 1
The View from Baltimore

44. Preservation in a Land Trust
Residents care for the site, the land trust
owns the land
• no worries about development
• basic liability insurance
• technical assistance

46. 4 Criteria
• Request comes from the community
• Community can maintain the site for
the long term
• Site really benefits the neighborhood
• Match between the soil and how the
site is used

47. The Process
• BGS meets with Site Manager and
others.
• Application filled out. Goes to board.
• Research. Another board vote.
• Acquisition.
• Land sold by City for $1 per lot.
• Celebration! Insurance! Annual visit!
Technical Assistance!

48. Start your Own Land Trust
• Just like any other nonprofit (at least in
Maryland). Learn specific rules in your
state.
• Find a starting board. Incorporate. Join
the Land Trust Alliance for insurance and
standards. Start to figure out how you will
operate.
• Find your allies! Figure out how you will
acquire land, or what your model is.

49. The Role of the Land Trust –
Generation 2
The View from Chicago

50. Land Trust- Generation Two –
Chicago, 20 years later.....

55. Ginkgo Organic Garden,
Uptown

56. Growing Home, Engelwood

57. El Paseo, Pilsen

58. Stewardship Clinic!!

61. cc

63. •03/15/15
•Empty Lot On 23rd street and Whipple

65. Main Community Partners:
Community Links High School
Our Lady of Tepeyac Head Start-
Catholic Charities
Advisory Board of Parents, Teen
Youth, and Teachers
-In Association with Land Trusts
Neighbor-Space and Trust for Public
Land

68. •General Approach and Feel

69. c
Little Village is a place in Chicago with
very little open space.
We recognize an important
requirement of healthy communities is
consistent access to natural play spaces.
By providing children and their care-givers
with spaces designed to child-initiated discovery,
we help build a foundation of resilience,
a sense of wonder,
and future stewards of the earth.

70. “That experience of
trying it and then the
immediate thought of
‘well next year I’ll…’
simply opens up time.
And it opens up life and it
opens up hope.
Whatever’s going on
today, there’s always next
year.”

71. Technical Assistance Clinic