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East Freedman & Main

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Invitation: Join EFM on January 13 for our next Economic Development Workshop

Dear Reader, Please join East Freedman & Main’s founder, Elisse Douglass, and managing director, Todd Hestand, for our next Economic Development Workshop on January 13, 2026, at 1 PM Eastern. Register Here In this session, Designing for Impact: Business Technical Assistance Programs for Community Wealth, we are going deeper into the "how" of inclusive commercial development. We will explicitly break down the Business Technical Assistance Program (BTAP) methodology as a strategic tool to:...
A collage of the East Freedman & Main team's 2025 highlights

Happy Holidays from East Freedman & Main!

Happy Holidays from As the year comes to a close, we look back with gratitude and move forward with intention. At East Freedman & Main, every project, partnership, and milestone is powered by real people—thinkers, builders, listeners, problem-solvers, and collaborators—who bring care, creativity, and commitment to the work each day. This season offers space to acknowledge the challenges navigated, the lessons carried forward, and the collective effort required to keep momentum strong. It’s...
Left to Right: Paul Lipson, Barretto Bay Strategies; Sandra Lobo, Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC); Elisse Douglass, East Freedman & Main

EFM's Latest in Equitable Development: Kingsbridge Armory & Beyond

“This is ‘planting time.’ Planting is work. That work must be aimed at building ideas, theories, paradigms, institutions, skills, practices, and alliances that we can seed now for a future harvest — a fulsome and lush democracy that will reflect the very best of us.” — Professor Sherrilyn Ifill Friends, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately listening and learning, trying to understand how to respond to what’s happening in this country. What does it mean that so much of what we’ve fought for...

Land. Capital. Power. Join us July 30th for this important conversation.

We’ve spent years working to ensure development doesn’t mean displacement, but instead, community ownership and power. On July 30, we’ll be in conversation with Just Communities to share how East Freedman & Main is advancing a different model for real estate—one rooted in community control, anti-displacement, and long-term economic sovereignty. Because development doesn’t have to mean extraction. It can mean opportunity. It can mean power that stays with the people who built the neighborhood....

Unlock Community Growth: Invitation to EFM’s Economic Development Workshop

1600 S Lawndale will be a 15,608 SF adaptive reuse commercial redevelopment that will transform a long-vacant building into a vibrant small business incubator. As part of the North Lawndale Co-op, the space will house 6+ local tenants including a café, chocolatier, restaurant, art gallery, office suites, and event space. Led by Lawndale Christian Development Corporation, the project will foster community ownership, entrepreneurship, and is a key node in the 16th Street Corridor Revitalization...

A historic win for the Bronx and national model in the making!

Congratulations to our partners at Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC)! They have secured a groundbreaking agreement with 8th Regiment Partners and New York City Economic Development Corporation for the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory. This milestone ensures long-term community ownership, shared governance, and deep investment in the people of the Bronx—from affordable manufacturing space to union jobs and a dedicated community hub.As Elisse Douglass, CEO of East...

EF&M: A New Chapter in Equitable Development Starts Here

Newsletter 001A Warm Welcome Friends, Welcome to the very first official East Freedman & Main newsletter! In honor of our 4-year launch anniversary — I want to take a moment to reflect on the journey that brought us here. Four years ago, I felt like we—as a nation—were on the verge of repeating a painful and familiar cycle. The pandemic was exposing the deep consequences of the racial wealth gap, and in the wake of George Floyd’s public murder, major institutions made sweeping public...

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