Land in Black Hands Fund

The Kingston Land Trust  

Land in Black Hands Fund

Support Black land access, ownership, stewardship and land sovereignty initiatives in and around Kingston, NY.

The Kingston Land Trust is thrilled to announce that we have entered into a contract to acquire and permanently protect 54 acres of land in Kingston. This acquisition would not only allow us to protect unique habitat, biodiversity, and watershed health, but would also be a land base for the growing Land In Black Hands program of the Kingston Land Trust, and creating a space for BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) farmers and growers to gather, learn, live, and work in safe and generative harmony with the environment.

We have met our fundraising goal to acquire this land and are still accepting (and encouraging!) donations. All funds raised during this period will go towards preparing the land for the first phase of community and partner engagement. It has been a huge honor to have received so much support for this project, and we deeply thank every person who has contributed to making this acquisition a reality.

How was this land identified?

Every February since 2019, the Kingston Land Trust has hosted an annual Land in Black Hands gathering to learn about and discuss land-based needs, challenges, and possible solutions for BIPOC communities in our area. A crucial need identified through this work has been land access and land sovereignty for BIPOC farmers and growers in our region. Watch a video of the 2019 Land in Black Hands panel discussion here.

In 2020, the Kingston Land Trust established the Land In Black Hands fund in order to raise capital to help realize this vision. We also created the Land and Black Hands Steering Committee, made up of Black members of the Kingston community and surrounding region, which identified securing a land base for growing and being in right relationship with land as the primary objective for the use of funds. Since then, we have raised $30,000, and our staff team has worked to find land that would be suitable to conserve and be a land base for the Land in Black Hands program as per the Steering Committee’s guidance.

In 2022, we identified a possible opportunity to acquire one of the last remaining farms in the City of Kingston that would soon be on the market to be sold. After a year of building a relationship with the family of the landowner, and the land going on the market this fall, we have secured an accepted offer and are in contract to purchase the land, which includes a small farm house and a barn.  

What is the vision for the land and buildings?

Under the protection and stewardship of the Kingston Land Trust, this land will provide land access, housing, and opportunities for land-based education for Black and other People of Color in a way that supports people to address their own fundamental needs. The relationships that will be developed with the land will be mutually beneficial--as people improve their livelihoods through the land, the conservation values will also be improved and intentionally stewarded to protect and enhance the biodiversity of this ecological refuge and climate resilient landscape. We will embark on this project with an abundance perspective which the broader community and surrounding lands will also benefit from. Not unlike the Pine St. African Burial Ground, this project would be a model for land trusts and communities in general across the nation. 

For more information about our vision for this land, contact KLT’s LIBH lead, Shaniqua Bowden, at [email protected] or send a text to 845-303-6183 

For more information about the land and conservation value, contact KLT's Conservation and Stewardship lead, Greg Shaheen, at [email protected]

This is the field that has the best potential for agriculture 

Front field with structures in background

The barn and shed would support farming and stewardship on the land

The existing trail system allows for an accessible connection between the buildings, fields, and beautiful woods, ridges, wet meadows, and pond

Land in Black Hands history

In 2019 we launched our first annual Land in Black Hands event (in collaboration with the Hudson Valley Farm Hub and Scenic Hudson) and, after a second event this year during Black History Month Kingston, we asked what ideas community members of color have for local land access and ownership. 

These events inspired the creation of a dedicated fund in 2020 for a LiBH working group to turn ideas into reality through use of the funds raised. 

Watch a video of the 2019 Land in Black Hands panel discussion here.

Learn more at https://kingstonlandtrust.org/initiatives/land-black-hands

Join the Land in Black Hands Fund Steering Committee:

This committee, made up of Black members of the Kingston community and surrounding region, will determine how to spend the Kingston Land Trust’s Land in Black Hands Fund   

If you identify as Black and believe in cooperative ownership and ecological stewardship of land, express your interest and sign up for a zoom invitation by filling out a survey at kingstonlandtrust.org/land-in-black-hands.

The Kingston Land Trust is forming this committee to further center the voices and needs of Black people that have been violently dispossessed of land and sovereignty, for generations, across what is known as the USA. The fund provides the opportunity to translate ideas generated over the past three years of Land in Black Hands community discussions into a tangible land-based project in the Kingston area.

The Kingston Land Trust (KLT)’s Land in Black Hands Fund was created by the KLT to facilitate cooperative ownership,  access, and stewardship of land by Black community members for land-based livelihood projects with an ecological and community-sourced focus. Such projects are intended to be in right relationship with the land, and with other people of color experiencing systemic oppression.

This includes descendant Nations  of Lenapehoking (lands of the Lenape), and other Indigenous peoples whose lands are nearby. Native, Indigenous, and First Nations peoples are the original inhabitants of what is now known as the USA, and we support their right to sovereignty of and with their ancestral homelands. The Steering Committee will determine how the fund will be used, in coordination with the KLT.

For more info, contact KLT’s LIBH lead, Shaniqua Bowden, at [email protected] or send a text to 845-303-6183