Executive Director
Nazir Abuyounes has called Long Beach home for the past 14 years and is deeply committed to advancing community ownership practices that center the leadership of directly impacted residents. They prioritize a grassroots, community-led approach to housing and community economic development and are dedicated to supporting collective organizing to build power, prevent displacement and gentrification, stabilize neighborhoods, and promote long-term community stewardship. Drawing on expertise in nonprofit management, community lawyering, cooperative governance, and community outreach and engagement, Nazir has significantly strengthened community ownership models in Long Beach.
A community economic development lawyer and dedicated advocate, Nazir brings over a decade of experience in nonprofit leadership and community ownership strategies. They first joined the Long Beach CLT during its start-up phase as a member of the interim Board of Directors while working as a Staff Attorney with Public Counsel’s Community Development Project. In that role, Nazir provided essential guidance that helped shape the CLT’s early formation and was later selected as the organization’s first Executive Director.
Nazir holds degrees in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned their law degree from Loyola Law School, where they specialized in nonprofit and corporations law, with an emphasis on transactional practice that supports community ownership models. Nazir currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of the California Community Land Trust Network, as a Senior Legal Fellow with the Sustainable Economies Law Center, and as a member of the Cooperative Professionals Guild, further deepening their engagement with the broader ecosystem of community ownership and shared equity models.
