Impact
Land recycling is about more than cleaning up and rebuilding on properties. How we choose to design and utilize the landscape is at the root of our quality of life. It is the basis of many environmental, social, and economic issues.
At the Center for Creative Land Recycling, we believe transformation happens at the community level. Our programs support communities with the greatest need for and the least access to the specialized knowledge and tools needed to clean up and repurpose properties. Often, these are low-income neighborhoods, rural areas, and communities of color.
We meet communities wherever they’re at and provide the resources, training, and connections that leaders need to move a project forward. Our holistic view helps communities to not only get projects done, but also to create a positive impact for economic development, racial equity, climate resilience, and sustainability.
Land recycling...
Increases property values and stabilizes the local tax base.
Improves public health and environmental quality.
Provides land for important community assets including affordable housing, commercial space for small businesses, and health infrastructure.
Prevents sprawl, preserves open space, and protects natural resources.
Reduces carbon footprints and presents opportunities to prepare for climate change.
Helps ease social and racial injustice, as vacant properties disproportionately affect low-income and communities of color.
2020 Impact
Partner Organizations
DTSC is rolling out its brand-new Equitable Community Revitalization Grant (ECRG) program, with up to $250 million in grants to assess and cleanup properties in environmental justice communities. CCLR can help you apply for funding.
We are collaborating with Groundwork U.S.A. to provide resources and events around the environmental justice impacts of brownfields and best practices for equitable development.
CCLR Members firmly believe that all blighted, abandoned, and underutilized properties have a future as community assets. They provide support which is integral to the impact we have for communities.
Leadership
Mary Hashem is the Chair of CCLR’s Board of Directors and co-founder of RE|Solutions, LLC, a woman-owned real estate advisory and development company specializing in environmentally-distressed properties. She is a nationally-recognized leader in brownfield acquisition and development, with more than three decades of experience in environmental risk management and real estate transactions. For the last 15 years, her career has focused solely on the acquisition, cleanup and redevelopment of commercial and industrial brownfield properties.
