User:KensingtonKing/sandbox

Kensington Corridor Trust (KCT) is a non-profit neighborhood trust located in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in September 2019 in a partnership between four separate Philadelphia based organizations, KCT is one of the first neighborhood trusts in the United States. The trust utilizes the neighborhood trust or steward-ownership model where it buys commercial and residential properties for the neighborhood along Kensington Avenue from Lehigh Avenue to Glenwood Avenue – the “corridor”. By buying and stewarding land for the community, the KCT takes it out of the speculative market and seeks to preserve affordability in a rapidly gentrifying section of the city, provide the community with control over real estate assets, prevent wealth extraction, and foster local entrepreneurship.

History
By 2019, it became apparent to KCT's founders that the rapid development and unrestricted capital coming into Kensington would inevitably lead to gentrification spreading up Kensington Avenue, causing widespread displacement of its predominantly low income residents. The trust was formed by four founding organizations, Impact Services, PIDC, Shift Capital, and IF Lab who made early governing decisions to guide the trust's growth. After hiring an executive director for the trust in 2020, the founders soon relinquished their control to live up to KCT's founding values of good stewardship, equity, community, and transparency. In their place, a new board was formed including Kensington business owners, residents, and a federally qualified health center from the neighborhood. KCT is currently growing its portfolio, stewarding its current properties, and developing a democratic governance structure that will allow residents to have ultimate control over the trust's assets and ultimately over a significant portion of the Kensington Avenue Corridor. The trust holds its properties in perpetuity, ensuring its long term affordability and accessibility to residents.