STANDING PROUD: COMMUNITY LAND TRUST FORMULA
Proud Ground celebrated the power of community and the dream of making affordable homeownership a reality for families in Oregon and SW Washington on March 6 with a silver anniversary gala “Building Fu- tures” in Portland. The event hosted over 200 supporters at The Redd with TheCaseMade President & CEO Tiffany (DrT) Manuel offering the keynote address on changing attitudes and looking at issues through a refined lens. The organization is the largest community land trust in the Pacific North- west, helping more than 700 households become first-time homeown- ers. It operates as a membership-based organization, bestowing voting rights upon homeowners and donors in shaping organizational deci- sions. This ensures that the very community members it serves have a direct role in steering mission-driven initiatives. Community land trusts (CLTs) are nonprofit organizations that acquire and own land for community benefit, typically used to ensure long-term affordable housing and often through a ground lease where the land is held separately from the building and sold to income-eligible buyers.
Washington Trust Bank VP Mark Williams and Fidelity National Title VP Leah King with Dominique (Dom) Merriweather, Executive Director of Proud Ground. Keynote Speaker Tiffany (DrT) Manuel, PhD, Founder & CEO, TheCaseMade
With a mission to create permanently affordable homeownership oppor- tunities using the community land trust model to ensure multi-genera- tional stability, Proud Ground’s vision is to foster livable, equitable, and economically viable communities where every family has access to af- fordable homes in the community of their choice. As part of its strategic plan, 74% of new homeowners identified as BIPOC in 2024. Proud Ground is in the process of completing a multi-year campaign launched in 2021. The $5 million Opening Doors initiative will add ap- proximately 200 homes to its portfolio and is $300,000 from reaching its goal. The organization recently welcomed Executive Director Domi- nique (Dom) Merriweather upon the retirement to Diane Linn who grew the organization over a 10-year period. More information at: proudground.org
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