Burlington Associates in Community Development LLC is the premier provider of technical assistance to community land trusts (CLTs) in the United States, having helped over 200 CLTs since 1993. All of the firm’s partners and associates have been involved with the CLT movement for many years. Several have served as executive director for some of the country’s most successful CLTs.

While specializing in organizational development and operational planning for newly-formed and long-established community land trusts, Burlington Associates is willing to assist any organization committed to the permanent affordability and active stewardship of housing and other buildings serving local communities. Assistance has been rendered in recent years to community development corporations, community development financial institutions, and Habitat for Humanity affiliates. Burlington Associates has also been hired by city, county, and state agencies to assist in crafting policies and programs in support of permanently affordable housing.

Woodcut of a hammer and nails

Burlington Associates has worked in urban neighborhoods, suburban towns, and rural communities in 46 different states in the USA. On occasion, the firm’s partners have advised CLT initiatives in other countries as well, including Canada, England, Belgium, and Australia.

Burlington Associates specializes in the following types of technical assistance:

  • Assessment of the feasibility of incorporating a new CLT or grafting a CLT program onto an existing organization;
  • Organizational development for new CLTs and long-term planning for the operational sustainability of mature CLTs;
  • Assistance for the sponsors of a CLT in determining the fundamental business assumptions on which a CLT’s operations could be established and sustained;
  • Design and evaluation of housing, lending, and community development programs administered either by nonprofit organizations or by public agencies;
  • Assessment, design, and facilitation of nonprofit mergers and collaborations;
  • Strategic planning for CLTs and other nonprofit organizations;
  • Assistance in building regional or statewide coalitions among community land trusts and allied organizations, providing mutual aid, promoting best practices, and advocating for increased financial and political support from local and state governments;
  • Assistance to existing CLTs in diversifying their programs and portfolios to include commercial development and urban agriculture.
  • Facilitation of partnerships between Habitat for Humanity affiliates and community land trusts; and
  • Facilitation of partnerships between conservation land trusts and community land trusts.