From BOWLING GREEN SAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS GROUP
BG Save Our Neighborhoods Group (BG SONG) is inviting the Bowling Green community to Growing Home: Opening Doors to Affordable Housing – an event focused on the future of affordable housing and neighborhood development in our community.
Growing Home will bring together residents, business and community leaders, service providers, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, and others from across the Bowling Green area to share perspectives, identify priorities, and explore opportunities to address local housing needs.
The meeting will introduce participants to the Community Land Trust (CLT) model and explore opportunities to establish a Community Land Trust in the Bowling Green area.
In September 2026, BG SONG was awarded a $15,000 capacity-building grant from the John Henry Eldred Jr. Foundation to support the formation of a Bowling Green area Community Land Trust.
“The Ohio Community Land Trust Network is proud to support BG SONG’s Growing Home initiative, a community-driven effort that responds directly to Bowling Green’s housing needs. We applaud BG SONG for bringing residents together around a shared vision for housing stability and long-term affordability, and we encourage partners throughout Ohio to join us in celebrating this important event,” said Hope Paxson, President of the Ohio Community Land Trust Network.
CLTs are nonprofit organizations that acquire and hold land to serve local communities over the long term, helping keep housing affordable for generations to come. One example is Yellow Springs Home Inc., which has used the Community Land Trust model in Yellow Springs, Ohio, since its founding in 1998. Its accomplishments include maintaining long-term affordability, zero foreclosures, and expanding rental housing developments.
During Growing Home, meeting participants will have the opportunity to learn, ask questions, share ideas, and identify next steps.
Led by BG SONG members and two students in the BGSU Doctorate in Organization Development and Change program, structured brainstorming and collaboration activities will guide participants in considering questions such as:
• “What needs to be true for more people to be able to put down roots and build a life in Bowling Green?”
• “What expertise and resources will we need to establish and sustain a successful Community Land Trust?”
“Growing Home is about bringing people from across our community together to help shape a future where people of all ages and incomes can find decent, affordable housing and put down roots in thriving neighborhoods,” said Rose Drain, a founding member of BG SONG.
Community members who would like to help turn these ideas into action will be invited to join a new action committee dedicated to establishing a Community Land Trust in the Bowling Green area. The committee will begin meeting in November.
Growing Home: Opening Doors to Affordable Housing will take place Friday, Oct. 23, from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Veterans Building in Bowling Green City Park, 520 Conneaut Ave.
Breakfast will be provided.
Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by Oct. 16 to help organizers plan for breakfast and meeting materials. Participants can RSVP using this registration link or by emailing BG SONG at bowlinggreensong@gmail.com.
Before Growing Home, BG SONG’s New Housing and Housing Revitalization teams want to hear from renters, homeowners, BGSU students, seniors, and families from across the community through its Bowling Green Housing Survey.
Survey responses will help identify housing needs and priorities and guide BG SONG’s work moving forward. Email bowlinggreensong@gmail.com to request the link.
