Andover Community Trust Celebrates Change
Andover Community Trust (ACT) gathered to raise a toast to what has been accomplished so far and to energize one another to continue the hard work of advocating for and creating affordable housing. Norm Rice, board president, called upon everyone to increase efforts to help vulnerable members of our community and hoped this would be ACT’s first and last virtual annual meeting as newly selected homeowners, a student builder, board members and friends gathered on Zoom.
On the eve of Juneteenth, Rachel Heller, CEO Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) and the evening speaker, reminded everyone that, “the policies that intentionally created segregation must intentionally be changed.”
Heller went on to describe the housing situation in Massachusetts. Specifically that Massachusetts has a history of restrictive zoning that was built to keep people out. Consequently, people with the lowest incomes have the fewest housing options in the state and must make hard choices between affording food, rent or medicine.
Heller didn’t let everyone despair and shared individual actions to take:
Center racially equity in ACT’s work
Advocate locally
Expand circles— tell friends and community groups about the need for affordable housing
Advocate at the state level
Advocate at the federal level
And she even offered that anyone can read The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein “as a bonus action.”
Along with Heller, participants were inspired to action hearing from one of our student builders, Iverson. Iverson shared how much he enjoys Greater Lawrence Technical School and appreciates the opportunity to develop his plumbing skills on the Lupine Road site of 3 duplexes in progress. Laughing he shared that “when I go out to work for a company I won’t make a fool of myself,” because of what he has learned on-site working on the ACT duplex. He shared a more serious side too, that more people should look to vocational schools because it’s an excellent opportunity to learn valuable skills.
Continuing the celebration, Yajhayra Santana and Emmanuel Mauricio, both newly selected homeowners, expressed their appreciation to be given the opportunity to purchase an ACT home. Each has a student who will attend Andover High School, which is a short walk from these new homes.
Based on a strong belief that economic diversity is an important contributor to vital and livable communities, Andover Community Trust advocates for and develops homes that families can afford in the Andover community. Keep up to date with Andover Community Trust at andoverCLT.org or on Instagram or Facebook.
