DENVER — The community in Denver’s Globeville-Elyria Swansea neighborhood have long dreamed of swapping out industrial pollution for more parks and trees. Now, they’re banding together to make it happen.
A community land trust known as Tierra Colectiva is buying a plot of land, bordered by railroad tracks and a metal manufacturing plant, to convert into a community-owned green space and urban food forest. It’s a first for the neighborhood.
“This is one of the few projects like this in the country,” said Javonni Butler, who serves on the board of the Denver Park Trust, the nonprofit fundraising arm of Denver Parks and Recreation.
The Denver Park Trust invested $5,000 toward purchasing the property at 4790 Josephine Street, which has been vacant for more than a decade.
Tierra Colectiva has bought land in the neighborhood since 2018. They’ve built 13 affordable homes, which currently house around 50 people. But because the plot on Josephine is too close to the railroad to be suitable for housing, they decided to try a green space.
“It was so unique, and it was so powerful to be led by the community, that it’s something we want to be a part of,” Butler said.
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Angelika Albaladejo 
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