• Cultural Equity Realty Trust (CERT)

    supports communities in developing and sustaining social-purpose real estate to advance cultural justice and preserve diverse heritages.

What We Believe

We envision a world where places and buildings of diverse artistic, cultural, and historic significance find long-term sustainability through shared stewardship. We believe that preserving the heritage of marginalized communities as a means of combatting social and economic displacement is integral to the health and sustainability of urban neighborhoods.

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Why this, why now?

With the rapid growth of America’s urban centers has come tremendous development pressures, often accompanied by the high cost of displacement for long-time residents and the destruction of important sites of cultural memory and community resource.

We need to push back on these market forces through engaging models and lessons of the Solidarity Economy, harnessing the power of shared resources, financing, and stewardship. Drawing wisdom and inspiration from the work of cooperatives, commoning, fiscal sponsorship, and other community-governed, approaches we help build solutions that center people and preservation over profit and predation.

 

How We Work

To accommodate the diversity of needs at the intersection of preservation and social-purpose real estate, we offer multiple ways of working:

 
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Co-acquire, develop, and operate a property, with the potential for long-term co-ownership and income generation, long-term holding, or gradual transfer back to a community owner.

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Acquire, develop, and operate a property (speculatively or for a client nonprofit) with the intention to lease over the long term or gradually transfer back to a community owner.

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Provide advisory and support services concerning legal, operating, and financial models for acquisition, development, and sustainable shared stewardship.

  • Current Projects

    As part of our start-up phase, we are working on three very different pilot projects, all located in Philadelphia, which has provided the inspiration and impetus for our work.

  • Support Us

    Support our artist housing project, Hunter Street Artists, which needs your help to ensure achieve our goals of preserving this remarkable 18th-century building and ensuring the units remain affordable.