Press release from Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust:
The Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust (ABCLT) is pleased to announce its appointment of Anna Zuevskaya as the organization’s first Executive Director.
Zuevskaya brings over six years of experience working in community organizing and affordable housing for established and emerging nonprofits in both Charlotte, NC, and Greenville, SC. Notably, she served as Program Director of Charlotte’s West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition. During her tenure with this community-driven nonprofit, Zuevskaya helped guide the organization’s strategic vision to advance projects including a cooperative grocery store, youth-oriented urban farm, and a community farmer’s market.
“We are thrilled to bring Anna into the ABCLT team. Her experience with community organizing in communities of color, affordable housing development, and serving on the board of a start-up community land trust made her the perfect fit for this vital position” says ABCLT Board Chair Libby Kyles, who also adds “Anna’s expertise plus her innate drive means that she has hit the ground running, and our organization is already experiencing progress in leaps and bounds at this pivotal moment in time. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Anna to create and preserve permanently affordable housing in our community.”
This appointment marks an important milestone for ABCLT – which received its nonprofit status in 2019 under the direction of a volunteer-led Board of Directors. In 2018, the City of Asheville dedicated $1M to the community land trust from a voter-approved, multi-million-dollar bond referendum for affordable housing efforts throughout the city. In August of 2020, the City of Asheville formalized a grant agreement with ABCLT for $1.1M to include the bond funding as well as another $100K for operational expenses to ensure that Zuevskaya, who has been serving in a part-time capacity, can transition to full-time by the end of this year.
As its first paid staff member, Zuevskaya hopes to build on the planning efforts that have marked much of ABCLT’s work to-date. “I am honored and grateful to have been selected as ABCLT’s first Executive Director. I feel that I was called to serve in this capacity and that my prior experiences led me to this role” says Zuevskaya. “I know that a lot of work has taken place prior to my arrival, both within and outside of the organization, and my vision is for ABCLT to play an integral role in building community wealth and bringing people together to achieve social change through collective impact.”
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