Center for Community Progress Announces Recipients of 2025 National Land Bank Network Awards

Marquette County Land Bank Authority, Genesee County Land Bank Authority, and Cook County Land Bank honored at national summit. 

DETROIT, MI – The Center for Community Progress (Community Progress) announced the recipients of its biennial National Land Bank Network (NLBN) awards, which recognize outstanding leadership and innovation in the land banking field. The awards were presented at the 2025 National Land Bank Network Summit in Detroit, Michigan on September 8-9. This year’s honorees are: 

The Cook County Land Bank Authority (Illinois) received the first-ever 2025 Land Bank Project of the Year award for Home Sweet Homan. The project repurposed vacant land into 20 new affordable homes—the first new homes for sale in the Homan Square neighborhood in over 25 years. “The Cook County Land Bank brought cost-effective infill and modular development to a community where many individuals hadn’t seen any new development in their lifetimes. Their work was innovative and creative, addressing an urgent need in a part of the city that had been historically overlooked,” said Brian Larkin, Director of the National Land Bank Network. 

Antonio Adan, Executive Director of the Marquette County Land Bank Authority (Michigan), received the 2025 Emerging Leader Award. “He brings fresh energy, innovative ideas, and is committed to community development within and outside of the land banking space,” said Christina Carter-Grant, Associate Director of the National Land Bank Network. The Emerging Leader award is presented to early-career land bank leaders who demonstrate commitment to accelerating meaningful change in their communities. 

Christina Kelly, Director of Community Impact for the Genesee County Land Bank Authority (Michigan), received the 2025 Dan Kildee Legacy Award for her two decades of contributions to the field. “Christina Kelly brought intellectual rigor in conceptualizing and implementing the key concepts of today’s land bank movement,” said Dan Kildee, award namesake and Community Progress co-founder, who presented the award. “She has helped build this field and make it what it is. I cannot think of a person more deserving of an award that speaks to the legacy of the last 20 years.” 

The National Land Bank Network is a Community Progress initiative that connects land bank leaders to the tools, networks, and resources they need to return vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties to productive use. As the first membership-based community of practice for the field of land banking, NLBN supports the over 300 land banks and land banking programs throughout the United States with in-person and online convening, research, technical assistance, and education. 

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About Community Progress: The Center for Community Progress helps people to transform vacant spaces into vibrant places. Since 2010, their team of experts has provided urban, suburban, and rural communities battling systemic vacancy with the policies, tools, and resources needed to address the full cycle of property revitalization. As the only national nonprofit dedicated to tackling vacant properties, Community Progress drives change by uncovering and disrupting the unjust, racist systems that perpetuate entrenched vacancy and property deterioration. Community Progress has delivered customized, expert guidance to leaders in over 300 communities and provided hundreds of hours of free educational resources as well as leadership programming to help policymakers, practitioners, and community members across the country return properties to productive use. To learn more and get help for your community, visit communityprogress.org.