Steve Dubb
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Steve Dubb is a senior editor @NPQuarterly, where he directs its economic justice program, including the Economy Remix column & #RebuildTheEconomy webinars.
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Articles by Steve Dubb
New Models Emerge To Facilitate Community Land Ownership
Brent Fosberg is a Lansing, Michigan-based developer. Development is the family business. But Fosberg is not pleased at the sprawling development that has dominated Lansing. “I think there’s a real correlation [between] our level of trust in our institutions and our [urban] design and how we built [our communities],” Fosberg says. Fosberg believes communities would look different if residents financed development.
Building Homes and Communities for When We Age, a Shelterforce Webinar
VIDEO Building on Shelterforce’s Under the Lens series—Housing in an Aging Society—four panelists joined us for a discussion about how families and communities can more effectively respond to the realities of growing older, and the housing policies and solutions that can enable people to not only age in place, but age in community safely and affordably. The speakers were: The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
New Models Emerge to Facilitate Community Land Ownership
Glossary: Community-Based Commercial Real Estate Strategies Accredited Investor: The term accredited investor refers to an individual living in a household that either has a net worth (beyond the value of their house) of at least $1 million or annual earnings of at least $200,000 ($300,000 for couples) or who is a certified investment professional.
Can Social Housing Deliver? Los Angeles and Seattle Pursue Two Distinct Paths
In recent years, the phrase “social housing” has gone from an obscure academic phrase to a policy vision that is being pursued in multiple cities across the United States. In a 2021 webinar, sociologist Gianpaolo Baiocchi, who authored a white paper with H. Jacob Carlson on social housing the year before, explained that the phrase, “invites us to think about housing as something other than just an economic good . . . to begin to think of housing as closer to something like education or health.
When a Community Grows Old Together
This article is part of the Under the Lens series Housing in an Aging Society Longer lifespans, evolving household structures, and growing care needs are changing what people need from their homes and communities. In this Under the Lens series, Shelterforce examines what it means to live in an aging society, how families are adapting to the realities of growing older, and the housing policies and solutions that can help support aging safely, affordably, and connected to one another.
What Does a Good Housing ‘Impact Investment’ Look Like? A Shelterforce Webinar
VIDEO This webinar explored what a good housing impact investment looks like, focusing on the mechanics of impact investing, including what works, where and why it falls short of its goals, and how to apply the principles to better meet people’s needs. To analyze these topics concretely, two case studies—one in Boston and one in Baltimore—are featured.
Can Tenant Organizing Build Political Power? The DSA Experience
In the world of movement organizing, few groups in the past decade have undergone a faster demographic transition or greater growth than the Democratic Socialists of America, better known as DSA. Between 2015 and 2017, boosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign, the average age of DSA members dropped from 64 to about 30, and membership tripled from 8,000 to about 25,000, according to Washington Post reporting. Growth has continued since then.
World’s Largest Worker Cooperative Network Seeks New Allies
Mondragón has always thought that our main purpose is to do business, and [that] the way we get social transformation [is] through business, and that’s still true. But that’s not enough. —Ibon Zugasti, international project manager at LKS Cooperative In many respects, the 70-year track record of the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation, the world’s largest worker co-op network, is inspiring. It is common to think of worker co-ops as marginal and small.
Linking Immigrant, Worker, and Tenant Struggles To Build Community Power
Linking Immigrant, Worker, and Tenant Struggles To Build Community Power Published June 29, 2026 We don’t see immigrant defense work as being separate from workers or tenants rights. —María Moreno, San Francisco Jobs With Justice From May 14–16, nearly 1,000 labor union members and supporters gathered in Atlanta for Workers Revive Democracy, a national conference organized by national labor support network Jobs With Justice (JWJ).
Linking Immigrant, Worker, and Tenant Struggles to Build Community Power
We don’t see immigrant defense work as being separate from workers or tenants rights. —María Moreno, San Francisco Jobs With Justice From May 14–16, nearly 1,000 labor union members and supporters gathered in Atlanta for Workers Revive Democracy, a national conference organized by national labor support network Jobs With Justice (JWJ).
Congress Passes Broad Housing Package After Years of Gridlock
We have a federal housing bill. And what a long, winding journey it has been. On Feb. 9, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Housing for the 21st Century Act by a margin of 390–9. On March 12, the U.S. Senate passed a version of its 300-page 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by a vote of 89–10. But as we noted in April, even such large majorities didn’t guarantee that a bill would become law.
What Does a Solidarity Approach to Housing Look Like? A Shelterforce Webinar
VIDEO In this webinar, we examine what a solidarity economy approach is, what its principles are, how these principles are being applied presently, and how they might be applied more broadly to support housing justice and transformative economic change. The webinar was moderated by Steve Dubb, Shelterforce’s strategic initiatives editor.
How CLTs Are Powering Co-op Growth In Canada
Above photo: A family in the backyard of co-op home at Lopez Island Community Land (LICL) Trust. J. Hernandez/Mithin; courtesy of LICL. Lessons for the U.S.? In Canada, more than half of all housing on community land trusts is cooperative housing. In the U.S., that number is less than 2 percent. Why? Cooperative housing and community land trusts (CLT) are often posited asalternative pathsfor achieving community ownership of homes. But these two housing types can also be combined.
Could Massachusetts Get Rent Control Back After a 32-Year Ban?
Addressing hundreds of housing activists in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston in April, Annette Diaz, an East Boston tenant, said rent control was not just a “theoretical” matter to her. Diaz explained that the monthly rent for her apartment had climbed by “over $750 in less than a year,” the result of three increases in rapid succession, which have strained family finances and made budgeting extremely difficult.
In Eugene, Housing Advocates Call for a Tenant Right to Purchase Act
Jeff Albanese, program director at SquareOne Villages, an affordable housing co-op developer in Eugene, Oregon, notes that Oregon’s housing crisis has become so severe that it has vastly expanded the range of the possible. “There’s a lot of stuff that is on the table, including TOPA [tenant opportunity to purchase act] and social housing. We have [a] statewide rent control law now in Oregon,” he says.
Making Homeownership Affordable: Bringing Fannie and Freddie Back to Mission, a Shelterforce Webinar
VIDEO This webinar examines how two leading government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which help sustain the national housing market, support or fail to adequately support homeownership for Americans of modest means. While the enterprises’ missions are to support affordable housing, a March 2026 video by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy suggests they have strayed from their mission and need to step up with new products and services to expand access to homeownership.
How CLTs are Powering Co-op Growth in Canada: Lessons for the U.S.?
Cooperative housing and community land trusts (CLT) are often posited as alternative paths for achieving community ownership of homes. But these two housing types can also be combined. Such a combination aims to marry the strong sense of community control that housing co-ops provide with the permanent affordability that CLT ownership helps ensure. In the United States, such a combination is rare but not unheard of.
How Public Banks Can Meet Public Needs
What could your community do if your city or state owned its own bank? In 2020, the nonprofit organization Action Center on Race & the Economy published a study showing that state and local governments pay $160 billion in annual interest on the money they borrow. Banks owned by cities, counties, regional authorities, or states—better known as public banks—would enable local governments to recapture that money by borrowing from themselves.
The Federal Housing Bill: ‘A Bunch of Tweaks, But Good Ones’
In a Congress largely marked by gridlock, housing may soon be an exception. Or, if the effort to pass the current housing bill falls short, it could be yet another confirmation of federal dysfunction.
Cohousing Promises Lower Costs. Why Hasn’t It Worked in the US?
Cohousing residential communities are designed to foster neighborliness, encouraging practices like borrowing ingredients from neighbors, sharing occasional meals, and watching one another’s children. Cohousing is a “community intentionally designed with ample common spaces surrounded by private homes,” according to the Cohousing Association of the United States (CohoUS), a national nonprofit that promotes these types of neighborhoods.
What Is the Solidarity Economy? — Shelterforce
Welcome to Solidarity Corner! In this new monthly column, I hope to explore and examine different aspects of what is widely called the solidarity economy, focusing on practices that help people build more sustainable and equitable communities. Future column topics will vary—from community land trusts and other community-based land ownership models to emerging city- and regional-level solidarity economy networks, employee ownership and other types of community business ownership trusts, and more.
Staff Picks for 2025: Steve Dubb
1. Confronting the Private Equity Menace to Restore Housing Affordability Confronting the Private Equity Menace to Restore Housing Affordability 2. From Buffalo to the Red Cup Rebellion: Why Starbucks Workers Are on Strike From Buffalo to the Red Cup Rebellion: Why Starbucks Workers Are on Strike 3. Reinvigorating the Nonprofit Sector: A Conversation with Vu Le Reinvigorating the Nonprofit Sector: A Conversation with Vu Le 4.
Envisioning the Future of Cooperatives: A Conversation with Christina Clamp
Image Credit: Publisher Oak Tree Press Truth to Power is a regular series of conversations with writers about the promises and pitfalls of movements for social justice. From the roots of racial capitalism to the psychic toll of poverty, from resource wars to popular uprisings, the interviews in this column focus on how to write about the myriad causes of oppression and the organized desire for a better world.
On Boycotts and Blackouts, Mobilizing and Organizing: Understanding the Basics
Image Credit: Natalia Blauth on Unsplash The language behind the call was dramatic. As one website last month declared, “The Mass Blackout is a coordinated, nationwide economic shutdown campaign launched by a coalition of grassroots organizations demanding an end to corporate rule, political corruption, and the removal of the Trump administration.” Newsweek described the campaign as an effort to “completely withdraw from the consumer economy from November 25 to December 2.” Did this happen?
How People’s Budgets Advance Local Democracy: A Conversation with Celina Su
Steve Dubb: What led you to write Budget Justice—and how would you define the term? Celina Su: I define budget justice as giving everyday residents, especially those from historically marginalized communities, the resources and power to address their needs. What led me to write Budget Justice was seeing this very term on so many placards during the 2020 uprisings and protests.
How People’s Budgets Advance Local Democracy: A Conversation with Celina Su
Image Credit: Princeton University Press Truth to Power is a regular series of conversations with writers about the promises and pitfalls of movements for social justice. From the roots of racial capitalism to the psychic toll of poverty, from resource wars to popular uprisings, the interviews in this column focus on how to write about the myriad causes of oppression and the organized desire for a better world.
What Is Land Justice? Nonprofit Leaders Share Their Answers
“Between the future past” by Layqa Nuna Yawar, layqa.info Photographed by Nicholas Knight, courtesy Public Art Fund, NY Editors’ Note: This article was originally written for the Summer 2025 issue of Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine, “Land Justice: From Private Ownership to Community Stewardship.” How do we advance land justice in our work? This question was put to five representatives from four nonprofits.
What Next for the Labor Movement? A Conversation with Dave Kamper
Truth to Power is a regular series of conversations with writers about the promises and pitfalls of movements for social justice. From the roots of racial capitalism to the psychic toll of poverty, from resource wars to popular uprisings, the interviews in this column focus on how to write about the myriad causes of oppression and the organized desire for a better world. This installment accompanies an excerpt from Dave Kamper’s new book Who’s Got the Power: The Resurgence of American Unions.
Owning versus Renting, and Other Questions Nonprofits Should Ask About Real Estate: A Conversation with Rudy Espinoza and Allison Wagstrom
Editors’ Note: This article was originally written for the Summer 2025 issue of Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine, “Land Justice: From Private Ownership to Community Stewardship.” Steve Dubb: What are some key things nonprofits need to know about real estate, regardless of whether they want to own real estate themselves? Rudy Espinoza: First, that it is not that complicated. Most of the information is out there. The process of acquiring, even the process of managing an asset—it’s not rocket science.
What Next for the Labor Movement? A Conversation with Dave Kamper
Truth to Power is a regular series of conversations with writers about the promises and pitfalls of movements for social justice. From the roots of racial capitalism to the psychic toll of poverty, from resource wars to popular uprisings, the interviews in this column focus on how to write about the myriad causes of oppression and the organized desire for a better world. This installment accompanies an excerpt from Dave Kamper’s new book Who’s Got the Power: The Resurgence of American Unions.
Defending Black Land in the South: A Conversation Between Steve Dubb and Jennie Stephens
Editors’ Note: This article was originally written for the Summer 2025 issue of Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine, “Land Justice: From Private Ownership to Community Stewardship.” Steve Dubb: I think many people are unaware that Black Americans went from owning hardly any land before the Civil War to 15 million acres, primarily in the South, by the early 20th century. What drove this period of Black land acquisition?
An Indigenous Business Network Rises in Mexico
According to Mexico’s latest census, an estimated 19.4 percent of the population self-identifies as Indigenous. That’s over 23.2 million people. (By contrast, in the United States, which has nearly three times as many people, the Indigenous population is about a third of that amount.) Even so, the emergence of an Indigenous political movement in Mexico is a fairly recent development.
CDFI Movement Responds to Latest Trump Threat
Last month, in response to the government shutdown, the administration of President Donald Trump on October 10 initially sought to lay off 4,200 federal workers, effective December 13. This move included all 83 staff at the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), an agency that provides grant support to 1,400 loan funds, banks, venture funds, and credit unions around the country.
Land Justice—and Why It Matters - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Editors’ Note: This article was originally written for the Summer 2025 issue of Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine, “Land Justice: From Private Ownership to Community Stewardship.” I see a lot of organizations that…are seeing land [ownership] as key. We need a place to stay, to stand on. We need a place to build our analysis, to learn, to exchange….From that ownership grows power.
An Indigenous Nonprofit Responds to Budget Cuts with a New Strategic Vision
In this column with NPQ, LandBack for the People, NDN Collective builds on their podcast of the same name, sharing stories from Turtle Island and beyond about Indigenous people organizing in community, advocating for social justice, and fighting for the return of Indigenous lands. In this introductory installment, NPQ Senior Editor Steve Dubb writes about an episode of the podcast that dives into how NDN Collective is responding to major funding cuts.
The Giving Pledge at 15—Philanthropic Catalyst, Empty Promise, or Both? - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
At the time, The New York Times called the 2010 creation of what became known as The Giving Pledge, “The biggest event in philanthropy this year…a commitment by 40 of the wealthiest Americans to give away at least half of their fortunes, about $600 billion.” Started by Bill Gates, along with his then-wife Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett, more wealthy people continue to sign on every year.
Building a Collective Future: A Conversation with Niloufar Khonsari
Truth to Power is a regular series of conversations with writers about the promises and pitfalls of movements for social justice. From the roots of racial capitalism to the psychic toll of poverty, from resource wars to popular uprisings, the interviews in this column focus on how to write about the myriad causes of oppression and the organized desire for a better world. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
At “No Kings” Rally During Government Shutdown, Federal Workers Speak Out
At Boston Common, the nation’s oldest public park, a drone video showed that up to 125,000 people attended last Saturday’s “No Kings” protest. The Boston protest was one of about 2,700 coordinated events, attracting nearly 7 million people nationwide. In Boston, the rally was two events in one. One involved the usual mix of elected officials and prominent community leaders giving speeches to the crowd.
Reinvigorating the Nonprofit Sector: A Conversation with Vu Le
Truth to Power is a regular series of conversations with writers about the promises and pitfalls of movements for social justice. From the roots of racial capitalism to the psychic toll of poverty, from resource wars to popular uprisings, the interviews in this column focus on how to write about the myriad causes of oppression and the organized desire for a better world. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Trump Administration Defunds Fair Housing Police, Fires Two Whistleblowers
We are one of the only federal agencies that is charged and, in fact, required by Congress to investigate and prosecute discrimination across the country. Our investigators wear badges; they are law enforcement agencies. That is what Congress has charged them with. And that is the oath that we took when we decided to take these positions. And the frank fact of the matter is that right now discrimination is not being prosecuted. Fair housing laws are not being enforced.
How to Decolonize Wealth amid a Racial Justice Backlash
What will it take to decolonize wealth? In 2018, a bestselling book by Edgar Villanueva helped popularize the concept of decolonizing wealth, especially in philanthropy. Villanueva’s book, titled Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance is a cri de coeur that not only led to a second edition and sold over 60,000 copies, but also resulted in the launch of a new philanthropic effort, the Liberated Capital Fund, to help resource community groups and projects.
International Nonprofits After USAID: A View from the Global South
In 2025, Manushya, an 8-year-old Thai-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) with an intersectional feminist human rights mission and a practice of providing safe houses for Southeast Asian environmental and political opposition activists, had a near-death experience. Back in 2024, the NGO got a $750,000 grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to enable it to subgrant to movement groups across Southeast Asia.
“It Is Good to Be with Family, Movement Family”—Labor’s on the March - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Labor Day, which became a US national holiday in 1894, was once a very big deal. Photos such as this one taken in Buffalo, NY, in 1900 speak to the tens of thousands of workers who would march on Labor Day to be counted and to stand up for their rights. Labor’s mobilization in 2025 was hardly on the scale of 1900. But this year’s marches nonetheless mark an impressive revival of an old labor union tradition. In Boston, this year’s Labor Day march was the first the city had seen in many decades.
At NPQ, our goal is not to be cheerleaders for the nonprofit sector. Being a nonprofit is a tax status, not a synonym for virtue. That said, there is real valor and value in social movements, in nonprofits, and the people within them. The below picks highlight some of those movement and nonprofit leaders, workers, and activists who are making a difference in our communities. The stories below offer a mix of approaches.
A Labor Movement That Matters: From May Day to Labor Day and Beyond
Labor Day will be different this year. Those accustomed to parades and barbecues may be disappointed. The threats that working families currently face require resistance, reimagination, and reconstruction. May Day offered a glimpse of what is possible. Much more will be required, though, if unions, community groups, and their allies are to prevail against current authoritarian threats. Next up: Labor Day marches on September 1 that meet the moment and center workers over billionaires.
US Labor Officials Seek to Roll Back Protections—the Time to Comment Is Now! - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
This month, the US Department of Labor has issued a flurry of proposed new federal rules. Some are innocuous. For instance, one change makes inflationary adjustments to union federal financial reporting rules. Many others, however, if implemented, could have very damaging effects, making workplaces more dangerous. Some would roll back federal labor standards, including withdrawing minimum wage protections for over 3 million care sector workers.
Can a New Labor Institute Advance Black Workers’ Rights in the South?
The world is looking at the US South…because it is an epicenter for the entire global economy, from manufacturing to filmmaking. We aren’t the only ones who can see that expanding democracy here means expanding democracy everywhere. It is not just a theoretical framework. Building democracy here is possible, especially when we see it not simply as a political project but also as an economic project.
Economy Remix - Non Profit News
Since 2019, Economy Remix at NPQ has highlighted community-based democratic economic practices, while also demystifying mainstream practices. In this column, you’ll learn about everything from public banking to community land trusts to employee ownership, and more. This column is predicated on the notion that our economy is far too important to leave to the economists.
What Does Gaza Solidarity Protest Look Like on Campuses Today?
The undercover agent quivered on camera in front of the student activist who’d seen through his ruse. The spy attempted to wiggle his way out, first by feigning a disability and then by accusing the student of attempting to mug him. This isn’t a scene from a movie or a moment pulled from the CIA’s heyday of infiltrating student organizations in the 1960s; this occurred in May 2025 at the University of Michigan.
In Los Angeles, a Black-Led Community Land Trust Builds for the Future
“Help is not on the way. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” observed Damien Goodmon in an interview with NPQ. For two decades, Goodmon has been a leading community organizer in Los Angeles’s Crenshaw neighborhood. Crenshaw Boulevard has long been considered the cultural and commercial hub of Black Los Angeles.
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