The Mott Haven - Port Morris Community Land Stewards
The Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards (The Land Stewards) is a Community Land Trust (CLT) that was created in 2015 by South Bronx residents to acquire land for public use and to hold it in perpetuity. We seek to ensure that community members retain a stake in our neighborhood and promote pathways to meaningful self-determination for the Mott Haven-Port Morris community.
The Challenge
Land - its resources, its ownership, its uses, its treatment, and its borders and boundaries - has shaped human history. It is a defining part of our identity.
Claiming, taking, and owning land has always determined power and class structures. From slavery to redlining, land has been at the center.
The South Bronx, which sits on Lenape land, has been profoundly impacted by decades of environmental injustice and economic neglect. At the moment, the Mott Haven-Port Morris neighborhood is undergoing a wave of unprecedented real estate speculation threatening mass displacement.
Despite a local average median income of $22,471, where 49% of our children live in poverty, thousands of new market rate units are currently under construction touting indoor pools and luxury amenities.
A primary reason for what is happening and what has been happening is because we are not given a say over how land is developed and used. Decisions about the land on which we live, in which we work, where we raise our children, are made for us by those not invested in the health of the land or the people who call it home.
How can we thrive in this scenario, where our relationship to land is severed?
Our Response
We believe that the spirit of the land is intertwined with the spirit of its people. We believe we have a responsibility to steward the land and to use it in a way that values the lives of the people who live on it.
We established the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards to acquire land for public use and to hold it in perpetuity to ensure that community members preserve a stake in our neighborhood and to promote pathways to meaningful self-determination for the Mott Haven-Port Morris community.
We do this by:
Creating Space
The community land trust creates space for cultural, social, artistic and educational venues, projects and activities that improve the quality of life in Mott Haven-Port Morris.
Building Community
We support building community-driven development and local economic opportunities.
Expanding Access
Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards is working to provide permanently affordable housing and new tools for acquiring a home.
