Three tenacious and visionary communities deliver the American dream of owning a home to low-income residents. It has been over 40 years since leaders of the southern civil rights movement formed the first community land trust to secure access to land for African-Americans. This equitable and sustainable model of affordable housing and community development has since become a critical tool in preventing rampant foreclosures and land price speculation while stimulating revitalization without gentrification.

Through the personal stories of community activists in Durham, North Carolina, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Burlington, Vermont, audiences are compelled to rethink their assumptions about housing and community development in the United States.

As a practical, useable model for implementing community land trusts, Homes & Hands has been used by housing advocacy groups around the country as an example of ways to provide low-income residents with realistic and innovative home ownership options. The film has also been acquired by university courses in economics, urban planning and public policy.

Produced in cooperation with the Institute for Community Economics (now the National Community Land Trust Network), Homes & Hands is one of many client projects that GroundSpark has produced for public-interest organizations.

A discussion guide for Homes & Hands accompanies the film.

Running Time: 36 minutes

DVD features:

• Spanish substitles

• English subtitles

• 2008 epilogue featuring the status of the community land trusts 10 years later