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About Us: About Us

OUR MISSION

Marble Surface

The Future of Affordable Housing & Homeownership in Houston

Incorporated in 2018 as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit, Houston
Community Land Trust is guided by the belief that secure, quality, affordable
housing is a foundation on which families build a legacy and cultivate
opportunity, both for themselves and for their community. Our mission is to
make affordable housing and homeownership achievable and accessible for
limited-income households in Houston by connecting them with perpetually
affordable housing in neighborhoods across our city. We also provide
stewardship services and support to help homebuyers find long-term success

in homeownership.

 

Houston Community Land Trust is grounded in the principles of community
empowerment, equitable access to high-quality housing, and a long-term
vision for protecting future affordability for all Houstonians.

MEET THE TEAM

Meet The Team
Ashley Headshot .jpg

Ashley

Allen, PhD

Executive Director

ashley@houstonclt.org

Candyce Headshot.jpg

Candyce

Babb

Director of Homebuyer Support

candyce@houstonclt.org

Darren Headshot.jpg

Darren

Blakemore

Associate Director of Real Estate

darren@houstonclt.org

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Desmond

Watley-Calloway

Director of Programs & Partnerships

desmond@hourstonclt.org

Board

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

DR. ASSATA RICHARDS

Director - HCLT Board Chair - Founding Director - Sankofa Research Institute

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Assata is the founding director of the Sankofa Research Institute (SRI), which is a nonprofit with a mission to “create knowledge to build community.” To accomplish its mission, SRI employs Community-Based Participatory Research to work collaboratively with academic researchers, community organizations, and funders to generate empirical evidence to inform social change. Some of SRI’s current and past project partners include Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Southeast Houston Transformation Alliance of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Dance Source Houston, Project Row Houses, St. Anne Catholic Church, and CHRISTUS Health Foundation. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston and went on to earn a master’s and a doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University. She has extensive training in quantitative and qualitative research methods and analyses. After serving on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh, she returned to Houston, Texas, to work with Project Row Houses (PRH), a nationally and internationally recognized public arts organization that utilizes art as a transformative mechanism for revitalizing economically-depressed urban communities. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Houston, teaching courses in the sociology department and the arts leadership program. As a public sociologist, Assata serves as the Board President of the newly formed Houston Community Land Trust, the Third Ward Cooperative Community Builders, and the Emancipation Economic Development Council, which is a people-focus and place-based effort to revitalize, preserve, and protect a historic African-American community in Houston, Texas. Most recently, she was elected as the founding board president of the Community Care Cooperative, which is Houston’s first home care agency owned by certified nurse assistants and committed to serving aging residents living in the historic communities of Third Ward and Fifth Ward.

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