Somerville Community Land Trust Names Ben Baldwin Executive Director

SOMERVILLE, MA — Somerville Community Land Trust (SCLT) has announced that Ben Baldwin has been hired as the organization's executive director.

SCLT, founded in 2018, is a nonprofit dedicated to building permanently affordable housing and neighborhood stability through community-owned land.

Baldwin has been a core organizing volunteer with SCLT since its founding, has served as an organizer on other projects in Somerville and has a wealth of experience with community land trusts and affordable housing in other cities.

"Somerville Community Land Trust has been a passion of mine for years, and I am glad to finally be able to dedicate myself to it full-time," said Baldwin, a graduate of the Tufts University Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program.

Baldwin continued: "I've seen countless friends and loved ones displaced from this city over the years. To think I have the opportunity to help stem this tide by producing permanently affordable housing through the trusted community land trust model gives me so much inspiration. I look forward to connecting with the residents and communities in all of Somerville's neighborhoods to collectively build a stable, affordable city."

In 2017, Baldwin served on the founding board of the Union Square Neighborhood Council.

Before that, he worked on the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, a land trust located in Boston's Roxbury and North Dorchester neighborhoods. Baldwin also spent four years developing affordable rental housing in Roxbury at the Madison Park Development Corporation.

"I could not be happier to have Ben Baldwin on board and leading SCLT during this exciting time," said Ben Ewen-Campen, Ward 3 city councilor, the current council president and an SCLT board member. "(Baldwin) brings an outstanding professional background, and he is also a widely-respected and trusted Somerville organizer, who has built strong relationships and a track record of pushing for housing affordability and neighborhood stability in the Sommerville community."

SCLT was incorporated as a nonprofit in 2019. That same year, the organization acquired its first property: a five-unit condo building located in the heart of Union Square. That property, at 7 Summer St, now is permanently affordable and expected to be fully occupied early this year.

This year, SCLT also will be conducting its first board of directors election.

Anyone who is interested in running for the board can contact SCLT through the organization's website.

Membership in SCLT is open to anyone living in the City of Somerville.