We steward and build community-owned housing and spaces to bring and keep Altadena home.
In 2025, Altadena Earthseed Community Land Trust was conceived amidst smoke clearing from the Eaton Fire as a community-led and community-based vehicle to address the inequities facing Altadenans as our community rebuilds.
Our mission is to bring and keep Altadena home.
We are fire survivors, community members, and allies building pathways to community ownership in Altadena to recover from disaster in ways that are rooted in justice.
We seek to preserve the diversity of Altadena, with attention to Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working class communities who are particularly susceptible to displacement.
Unified by our shared love of Altadena’s vibrant communities and the desire to preserve all that makes our home special, our goal is to restore community access to land for future generations to come.
We are using the community land trust organizational model to connect us together in order to protect the land and its people.
We recognize and honor the Gabrieleno Tongva as the original people and caretakers of this land, and understand that Altadena and the Los Angeles Basin are located within Tovaangar, the ancestral and current home of the Tongva tribe. We encourage all who reside on the land as a guest to practice Kuuy Nahwá’a (Guest Exchange) with a local Tongva-led organization, such as Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy or Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.
Why a Community Land Trust?
A community land trust is a community-led non-profit that owns land to keep homes and spaces affordable, now and for the future.
The community land trust model was chosen due to its legacy in land justice and its ability to acquire and steward land in community with permanent affordability measures.
Check out this video from the Grounded Solutions Network to learn more about the history of community land trusts.
History of AECLT
In February of 2025, Athena Fulay and Rayne Roberts co-founded Altadena Community Land Trust as a grassroots effort, in collaboration with a group of displaced families.
In Spring 2025, the group grew in membership and a Steering Committee assembled to provide early governance. In partnership with allies in the local CLT space, we advanced a State budgetary request for $200 million to create a community land acquisition fund championed by Sasha Renee Perez. The request continues its advocacy this fiscal year on behalf of Altadena.
Through an online series in Summer 2025 to connect and better understand community interest and visions, a new name was agreed upon through consensus: Altadena Earthseed Community Land Trust, commemorating Octavia E. Butler and her novel, Parable of the Sower.
The grassroots effort became a fiscally sponsored project of Community Partners late 2025. Incorporation of the organization as a standalone 501(c)3 is underway.
The organization is a recipient of Sparkplug Foundation and California Community Foundation grants.
Our founding Steering Committee currently leads the work of developing the organization.
Adriana Bautista
Adriana is a lifelong Pasadena resident, at the border with Altadena, and local community organizer. She and her family were displaced due to smoke/ash damage. An advocate for housing justice and societal models of care, Adriana has a wide-range of administrative experience in local government including budgeting, management, and accounting.
Brenda Lopez
A lifelong Altadena resident, Brenda Lopez joined NDLON after the Eaton Fire devastated her building and exposed deep housing injustices. Since then Brenda has helped organize a tenants union in her building. As Part of the Pasadena Community Job Center team, she also provides support to families in Pasadena and Altadena impacted by the fires and recent ICE raids -advocating for dignity, safety, and a just recovery and return for all.
Matthew Vu
Matt is Board President of the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, and Campaign manager for Los Angeles Community Land Trust Coalition. Matt is a “student, activist, and community builder” whose line of work is in empowerment. Matt has been rallying for Altadena and connecting the community and Steering Committee to policy makers and community land trusts nationwide. He has been working on a nearly daily basis to help us empower ourselves and our community at large.
Maryam Hosseinzadeh
Maryam is an artist, organizer, and public art professional, who grew up in Altadena. She has worked with civic agencies and non-profits for over fifteen years developing and assessing community-centered arts programs. She is Programs and Development Director with Arlington Garden in Pasadena, where free programming has focused on fire resilient building, soil remediation, and healing in collaboration with Altadenans. She coordinated community panels on the CLT model following the Eaton Fire.
Nicole Buhles
Nicole’s children lost their school in the Eaton Fire, deepening her commitment to Altadena’s recovery. As a building design professional, she supports rebuilding efforts that reflect the community’s history and lived experiences, bringing experience in design and technology to empower communities to imagine and shape their future.
Sylvie Andrews
Sylvie is a lifelong Altadenan, who lost her Altadena home in the Eaton Fire. Sylvie organizes with Altagether neighborhood captains, Altadenans for Accountability, and owns a business helping elders with tech. She represented the community in Sacramento when lobbying for a community land acquisition fund and serves on the Leadership Council for the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s Long Term Recovery Group.
The Steering Committee thanks the CA CLT Network, CTY Housing, Public Counsel, Impact Matters, Beacon Housing, Dena Rise Up Coalition, SGV CLT, Greenline Housing Foundation, and Common Counsel Foundation for their technical knowledge and support.
