On Thursday, February 3rd, 2006, the Community Land Trust of the Southern Berkshires held its annual meeting and hosted John Barros and Jason Webb, two dynamic young leaders of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative.
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) is one of the most innovative and well-respected planning and organizing nonprofits in the country. Founded in 1985, DSNI has lead the revitalization of Boston’s poor but diverse Dudley neighborhood.
In 1988, DSNI became the only community group in the nation to win eminent domain power to acquire vacant land for development. Since then, approximately half of the 1,300 vacant lots it took control of have been converted into nearly 300 new homes and 300 rehabbed homes, a Town Common, gardens, urban agriculture, a commercial greenhouse, and parks and playgrounds. The Fannie Mae Foundation recently selected Dudley as one of the 10 “Just Right” emerging neighborhoods across the country for increasing affordable homeownership while attracting capital investment.