DUDLEY STREET
NEIGHBORHOOD INITIATIVE
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) has long offered a nationwide model of community control. From its roots in grassroots community organizing, gathering folks in Roxbury and North Dorchester to address illegal dumping in their neighborhoods in 1986, to the launch of its community land trust in 1988, to gaining the power of eminent domain in the Dudley Triangle neighborhood (allowing DSNI to consolidate land to build housing), to its current role as an executor of community will on its land trust, DSNI has had to adapt its strategies and actions to meet community needs.
Ujima’s communications team recently got in touch with John Smith, Executive Director at DSNI, to better understand how DSNI has changed over its nearly 40-year history–and how they continue to fight for sustainable, high-quality, affordable neighborhoods. Through an email interview, and a conversation for a reported piece we worked on for Non-Profit Quarterly, John detailed DSNI’s past, present, and future plans.
Ujima: How would you describe the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) to Ujima’s voting and solidarity members (and to our broader communities)?
John Smith: DSNI is a community development and organizing agency that promotes community control of land and housing and promotes development without displacement.
What has changed in terms of strategy and planning for DSNI over its nearly 40 years as it's transitioned from organizing to land stewardship, housing development, and economic development?
When DSNI started, our primary area of impact–Dudley Triangle, in Lower Roxbury and North Dorchester–was a part of the city that was overlooked; folks at the genesis of this wanted to take control of the land and, in a sense, create something from nothing. We don't have that same struggle anymore. Folks aren't illegally dumping waste here anymore, they're not setting fires. So we’re not organizing for those very physical, sort of tangible benefits as we were, but we’re organizing to retain this trust and to build sustainability–it’s been a shift from creating something to sustaining it.
So now, in real time, we are thinking about the next imminent crisis: climate change. From a strategic viewpoint, we have to get our communities ready for that reality. We already know that especially during the summer months, we have to deal with absurd heat levels. We know that based on where we are in the city, in the climate crisis we may be subject to brownouts, subject to flooding, subject to everything. We want to make our community and the surrounding communities in and around the land trust, more climate resilient. So that's where we are.
How much of your processes and day-to-day work still involve the kind of organizing it grew up out of?
We will always have two pillars. The first one is DNI: our subsidiary organization, Dudley Neighbors Incorporated, that stewards the land trust and sustains housing for the folks that live in this area. And the second pillar will always be organizing: from working with other organizations, to policy organizing to support affordable home ownership–we’ve changed what we organize about, but it will always be an important part of our work.
How do you center Bostonian communities' voices and needs in your work and in your decision-making processes?
Those voices come through in our executive board structure: we have an entirely community-based board. Our whole board, 30-some-odd members, they’re all members of the immediate community we work in. DSNI was designed to be responsive to our neighbors–and our struggle is to stay connected and responsive to changes in our community, continuously.
What drew DSNI to becoming a member of Ujima’s Good Business Alliance? How do you see DSNI benefiting from membership in the UGBA–and what are you seeking to contribute to the alliance itself, and its members?
Ujima’s Good Business Alliance is rooted in social and economic justice which aligns with the work of DSNI in promoting community control of land; we hope to promote similar justice initiatives for historically marginalized communities. We see benefits for ourselves and others arising primarily through peer-to-peer learning; we would also love to contribute our efforts toward greater community engagement alliance-wide.
What’s next for you all?
Two things: first, a comprehensive climate resiliency plan. I think another next step is for us to build out a fund. Looking at the housing market in our neighborhood, we’re hoping to help residents transition their homes off of the speculative market (especially for folks who do not have children or family to pass their property to as they get older, or for homes being foreclosed upon), and the fund would help us continue to acquire land to hold for collective benefit. ✦
John Smith: DSNI is a community development and organizing agency that promotes community control of land and housing and promotes development without displacement.
What has changed in terms of strategy and planning for DSNI over its nearly 40 years as it's transitioned from organizing to land stewardship, housing development, and economic development?
When DSNI started, our primary area of impact–Dudley Triangle, in Lower Roxbury and North Dorchester–was a part of the city that was overlooked; folks at the genesis of this wanted to take control of the land and, in a sense, create something from nothing. We don't have that same struggle anymore. Folks aren't illegally dumping waste here anymore, they're not setting fires. So we’re not organizing for those very physical, sort of tangible benefits as we were, but we’re organizing to retain this trust and to build sustainability–it’s been a shift from creating something to sustaining it.
So now, in real time, we are thinking about the next imminent crisis: climate change. From a strategic viewpoint, we have to get our communities ready for that reality. We already know that especially during the summer months, we have to deal with absurd heat levels. We know that based on where we are in the city, in the climate crisis we may be subject to brownouts, subject to flooding, subject to everything. We want to make our community and the surrounding communities in and around the land trust, more climate resilient. So that's where we are.
How much of your processes and day-to-day work still involve the kind of organizing it grew up out of?
We will always have two pillars. The first one is DNI: our subsidiary organization, Dudley Neighbors Incorporated, that stewards the land trust and sustains housing for the folks that live in this area. And the second pillar will always be organizing: from working with other organizations, to policy organizing to support affordable home ownership–we’ve changed what we organize about, but it will always be an important part of our work.
How do you center Bostonian communities' voices and needs in your work and in your decision-making processes?
Those voices come through in our executive board structure: we have an entirely community-based board. Our whole board, 30-some-odd members, they’re all members of the immediate community we work in. DSNI was designed to be responsive to our neighbors–and our struggle is to stay connected and responsive to changes in our community, continuously.
What drew DSNI to becoming a member of Ujima’s Good Business Alliance? How do you see DSNI benefiting from membership in the UGBA–and what are you seeking to contribute to the alliance itself, and its members?
Ujima’s Good Business Alliance is rooted in social and economic justice which aligns with the work of DSNI in promoting community control of land; we hope to promote similar justice initiatives for historically marginalized communities. We see benefits for ourselves and others arising primarily through peer-to-peer learning; we would also love to contribute our efforts toward greater community engagement alliance-wide.
What’s next for you all?
Two things: first, a comprehensive climate resiliency plan. I think another next step is for us to build out a fund. Looking at the housing market in our neighborhood, we’re hoping to help residents transition their homes off of the speculative market (especially for folks who do not have children or family to pass their property to as they get older, or for homes being foreclosed upon), and the fund would help us continue to acquire land to hold for collective benefit. ✦