We're creating permanently affordable Community Land Trust homeownership opportunities, so the families who keep Newport News running can own here, stay here, and build wealth here. Not for a season. For generations.
Newport News, VA
Saturday, October 24, 2026
8:30 AM to 2:00 PM Eastern
Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center
and community partners across Hampton Roads
Charity Means Love Foundation (CMLF) is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2023 and a Community Land Trust in Newport News, Virginia. We exist to combat displacement and gentrification, and to build neighborhoods where families can put down roots and stay for generations.
Across Hampton Roads, rising land costs and speculation push longtime residents out of the very neighborhoods they helped build. We take a different path. We keep decisions close to the people our work serves, with residents, neighbors, and local leaders helping shape what gets built and for whom. And we make homes affordable not just once, but permanently.
We're young, focused, and moving. Our first homes are under active development, our partnerships are growing, and our 2025 to 2035 strategic plan charts the road to 50 permanently affordable homes across the city.
To build permanent, community-rooted affordable homeownership in Newport News, Virginia, removing land from the speculative market so homes remain affordable today, tomorrow, and across generations.
Community leaders with deep roots in housing, finance, and Hampton Roads.
A Community Land Trust separates the cost of the land from the cost of the home. That one idea changes everything.
The trust owns the land beneath each home and holds it for the community, removing it from the speculative market for good.
Homeowners build equity, gain stability, and pass on opportunity, at a price working families can actually reach.
A 99-year ground lease and a built-in resale formula keep every home affordable for the next family, and the next.
We serve households earning 80 to 120 percent of Area Median Income: neighbors who are priced out of the market yet earn too much to qualify for traditional assistance.
We're building toward a Land Bank to acquire vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties and return them to productive use as permanently affordable homes.
Where we can, we invest in the shared spaces that make a neighborhood whole: community gardens, gathering spaces, and programs that support health, wellness, and connection.
Our first pilot is advancing through property conveyance, feasibility, design, and City and NNRHA review. The plan is to create one permanently affordable Community Land Trust home, paired with a community-informed green space that puts the rest of the site to good use. Final design, approvals, and property transfer are still in progress.
The balance of the site is planned as a productive green space focused on food growing and self-sufficiency. What it becomes, and who it serves, will be shaped through a community engagement series before any development begins.
Our 2025 to 2035 strategic plan guides our growth, governance, and community impact, with a goal of 50 permanently affordable homes across Newport News.
LISC Virginia supports CMLF's organizational capacity and predevelopment planning, and is the confirmed Presenting Sponsor of ROOTED: A Housing Empowerment Summit.
Building stronger connections between local developers, housing professionals, community partners, and the resources needed to move projects forward.
CMLF's Community Developer Roundtables provide a consistent space for emerging and experienced developers to share what they are working on, discuss common barriers, exchange knowledge, and identify opportunities for collaboration.
These conversations will also help document the challenges affecting development in Newport News and connect participants with relevant information, partners, and technical resources.
Please confirm the current meeting location when registering.
Whether you're planning your first project or you've been building for years, there's a seat at the table for you.
Sign Up for a RoundtableNewport News is a majority-renter city. We exist to change what ownership looks like here, block by block, family by family.
A free, community-centered day of learning, connection, and resources, built so every neighbor leaves with something learned, someone met, and a clear path to a resource.
Thank you to the partners supporting a free day of housing education, resources, and connection.
Supporting ROOTED and the conversations that connect neighbors with housing knowledge and community resources.
Supporting housing education and a free day of learning for our community.
Supporting the printed materials that help neighbors take useful information home.
Joining our resource fair and contributing to the community drawing.
Thank you to the City of Newport News for its in-kind support of ROOTED.
Hear from neighbors, Community Land Trust leaders, and housing professionals about our history, community ownership, and practical paths to homeownership.
Local lived experience and historical context connect the story of housing in Newport News to the choices we can make together.
Learn from practitioners and a CLT homeowner, explore different approaches to community ownership, and bring your questions to the conversation.
Connect with LISC Virginia and learn about the Housing Choice Voucher to Homeownership pathway with the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Meet participating organizations, share a meal, and leave with practical information and people you can follow up with.
Meet these confirmed participating organizations and learn about the resources they offer.
ROOTED takes place Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM Eastern at Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center, 2410 Wickham Avenue, Newport News, VA 23607. Final parking, entrance, and check-in instructions will be added here before the summit.
Admission is free. Please register for ROOTED so we can plan for food and seating. Breakfast and lunch are provided.
Yes, children are welcome. Youth programming details, including ages, location, and parent check-in and pickup instructions, will be shared once finalized.
Please contact CMLF at charitymeanslovefoundation@gmail.com or 757-940-8698 to discuss access needs or arrival questions before the event.
Visit our resource page for presentations, handouts, and information from the summit. Materials will be added as they become available, so you can return to the same page after the event.
Visit the resource page →As we've researched Newport News housing history more deeply, we've found records of an earlier local effort, Huntington Community Land Trust. We've removed the claim that CMLF is the city's first community land trust, including the wording “first independent,” from our website. We're also reviewing and correcting our documents and files.
A 2019 proposal preserved in Henrico County's public meeting records identifies Huntington CLT in Newport News and credits HDAdvisors with helping form it. ProPublica's IRS-derived record lists a March 2017 tax-exemption date for Huntington Community Land Trust. These records establish an earlier effort, though they don't yet give us a complete or consistent formation timeline.
We haven't yet verified whether Huntington acquired land, completed homes, or transferred homes to residents, or confirmed its current operating status. We'll share more as that history is documented. Building a community land trust takes commitment, organizing, and care. We recognize the people who worked to establish Huntington and honor their place in Newport News's housing history.
Records behind this acknowledgment: 2019 Henrico County meeting packet, PDF page 32 and Huntington Community Land Trust's IRS-derived listing. The listing cautions that its information may be incomplete or out of date.
Our free housing empowerment summit is open for registration. Reserve your spot, bring the family, and join a day built for the community.
Register free →Following an early predevelopment meeting with the City of Newport News, we refined our 32nd Street pilot to one permanently affordable home paired with a community-informed green space. A community engagement series comes first.
CMLF presented the Community Land Trust model at a TowneBank Lunch & Learn, part of the community education and lender relationships that make permanently affordable homeownership possible.
Our Founder and Interim Executive Director, Twylla Lozada, is participating in the Virginia Housing Alliance’s Housing Leadership Institute, exploring housing history, equity, and how housing decisions shape communities. This learning centers residents’ voices and lived experiences, helping us create housing with communities and their long-term needs in mind.
Twylla will represent LISC Virginia as a community partner at the Housing Credit Conference. The conference brings housing professionals together to explore affordable housing development and financing.
Monday, October 19, 2026, 2:30–3:30 PM EDT
Connect with women leaders in affordable housing through short, focused coaching conversations at the Housing Credit Conference. The agenda lists this special session as “GVAWAHN: Speed Mentoring.”
Conference registration and waitlist →
Conference registration is currently waitlisted.
From Vision to Vertical: Women Emerging Developers and the Future of Housing
Twylla joins Marlo Green, Dr. Elle Harris, Ty McCoy, and Mariah Williams of Virginia Housing for a conversation about women entering housing development, assembling a team, securing project funding, and keeping community purpose at the center as projects move forward.
The session takes place in Conference Room B at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. CMLF brings the perspective of building a Community Land Trust and a path to lasting affordability in Newport News.
Lend your skills to a movement. We have active needs in digital communications, grant research, event support, community outreach, and operations.
Reach out →Share your knowledge on a flexible basis, without the formal commitments of board service. Guidance, connections, and insight all move us forward.
Reach out →Follow us and share our work with someone who deserves to know this opportunity exists. Every conversation opens a door.
Find us online →Your gift funds the homebuyer education and community outreach that connects working families to permanently affordable homeownership, and helps our first homes welcome their first families.
Funds outreach materials that connect families to affordable homeownership opportunities.
Funds homebuyer education that prepares future CLT homeowners for long-term success.
Supports the community partnerships that make this work sustainable.
Supporting the summit instead? Give to ROOTED: A Housing Empowerment Summit →
Charity Means Love Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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Charity Means Love Foundation is a proud member of the Virginia Peninsula Chamber.
Charity Means Love Foundation is a proud member of the Hampton Roads Housing Consortium.