familyCopper Road hometea

CommonSpace Community Land Trust of Sonoma County, a newly formed 501(c)3 started in 2017, is committed to providing affordable housing and ecological land stewardship in perpetuity. Exploring solutions to the housing and ecological crises in Northern California, our volunteer working group: Darryl Berlin, Katherine Yates, Cassandra Ferrera, Jerry Green and Carolyn North have envisioned a multi-generational, multi-cultural and innovative model of cooperative community in Sonoma County.

Mission Statement

      • To remove land from the speculative market in perpetuity, providing attainable access to land, quality housing, sustainable agriculture and woodland, cooperative communities and cottage industries.
      • To develop practices that steward, preserve, protect and heal the natural environment – its land, air and water.
      • To demonstrate this stewardship of the environment and attainable housing by providing information, resources, replicable models and expertise to the general public.

 

Our Board of Directors

 

Darryl Berlin

Darryl Berlin

Developing Cohousing Through Community Land Trusts, Darryl has studied and practiced the art of natural building for over 20 years. Co-founder of Natural Building in Community, a three-month, hands on building intensive and apprenticeship, he’s led aspiring students and building professionals through the history of building with materials gathered directly from the site. He also helped establish and lived at Emerald Earth Sanctuary, an intentional community based on permaculture principles: care for the earth, care for the people, return of the surplus.

Through his work as a builder, design consultant, community member and educator, Darryl is able to merge his passions for fine craft, ecological stewardship, relationship to place and social justice, all while getting in the mud and building homes.

He’s employed as Construction Project Manager for Fair Oaks EcoHousing, a cohousing neighborhood 18 miles east of Sacramento. Darryl is also Project Manager with Acme Sonoma Properties, developing a 30 acre Agrihood in Sonoma County.

Darryl recently completed a year long program with Cohousing Solutions, which provides development consulting services for Cohousing neighborhoods and other collaborative groups.

 


 

Cindy Cunningham

Cindy has been practicing real estate in Sonoma County since 2004 and has continually expanded her focus as a community advocate throughout her career. Growing up in Marin County, Cindy was the only girl with many brothers and was part of a large, close-knit extended family. This culture included a strong focus on the theology of Community and Contribution to the Common Good.

Cindy previously worked as a pre-school teacher and Director of a co-op pre-school; as a Fire Captain at San Quentin, responsible for training a 15 man inmate fire crew; and as Director of Religious Education at her local parish.

Currently, Cindy resides in a multi generational family community in Sebastopol, CA. Her passion is to bring innovative community and sustainability ideas to folks who are living according to conventional practices. Cindy is an advocate of “housing for all” and embraces the opportunity of CommonSpace Community Land Trust to provide affordable and secure housing in Sonoma County.

 


 

Eden Trenor

Since completing her BA in Environmental Studies and Religion from Oberlin College, Eden has immersed herself in a variety of cultures and communities throughout North and Central America, always attentive to which elements contribute to inspiring creative, peaceful and willingly interdependent people. This exploration brought her to California in 2010 where she studied at the Regenerative Design Institute while working as a Spanish/English interpreter.

Since then, she has facilitated inside of San Quentin prison, received Teen Talking Circle and Dancing Freedom facilitator certifications, worked as a nature connection mentor and started West Marin Talking Circles. Eden is also involved in the California Global Youth Peace Summit, bringing together refugee and immigrant teens with teens from the USA, dedicated to heart-centered leadership, cultural exchange and intergenerational mentorship.

Currently, Eden leads Shakti Feminine University, the multi-campus transformational education branch of Shakti Rising, a women’s social change organization with over 18 years of service to women nationwide.

She is in love with sensory exploration of the world around us and lives on Commonspace CLT’s first project in Sebastopol.

 


 

Kevin Tellez Ramos

Kevin has recently completed a Master’s degree in Urban and Public Affairs at the University of San Francisco. He was voted by his peers for the role of Vice President of Mission for the Graduate Student Senate, and recipient of the Senator John Foran Outstanding Student Leader Award. Kevin is family-oriented, adventurous, and remains an advocate for healthy, active lifestyles. He was a newcomer to Sonoma County in 2018 when he volunteered as an AmeriCorps member for 2 consecutive service years working as a Spanish/English interpreter alongside leadership in K-6 literacy programs and after school, assisting local shelters through wildfires, and serving as an essential food-bank worker through the pandemic. A keen environmentalist and advocacy planner, Tellez builds new strategies to build affordable housing and ownership for non profits. With expertise in urban planning and consulting, he brings the research and public service to the ever changing property development space.

CSCLT Office Hours

 


 

Advisory Board

Update Pending…