State of OPAL Address by Lisa Byers, OPAL Executive Director

OPAL Community Land Trust
36^th Annual Meeting – April 23, 2026
Emmanual Episcopal Parish Hall

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I’m currently reading Vu Le’s book Reimagining Non-Profits and Philanthropy; I want to frame my comments today with quote from an author in Le’s book: 

Arundhati Roy wrote: “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.  On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” 

Part of Le’s message is that if we truly wish to re-dress the deep injustices in society, we need to organize… and take bold, revolutionary action. Centuries of white privilege and people in power corrupting unchecked capitalism have created extreme income inequality and racial injustice. We need approaches that are community-centric, cooperative and recognize that we all benefit when more of us engage and use our voice. 

I believe that OPAL and other community land trusts nationwide are, in fact, revolutionary approaches within a capitalistic system to re-organize our relationship to land. They are one of the models that are breathing within the current broken system.  A system that results in a few people having exclusive rights to vast property while many people lack any or adequate shelter.  Community land trusts put into action the value that we borrow the land from our ancestors and that each human being deserves a home.   

While the need for housing through OPAL continues to far out pace our ability to address that need, with over 100 households actively seeking to rent or purchase an OPAL home today, we can be proud of the fact that more than 8% of the islands’ year-round population—nearly 500 people—live in an OPAL home. And that Orcas is a healthier and more resilient place because of it.  Last year you all supported OPAL to:

• Purchase 8 existing apartments on Crosswind Lane.
• Construct 10 new townhomes that sold to their new owners this year.
• Got land use permit approval for the first phase of site work on the Pea Patch Community Campus where OPAL will build 20 rental townhomes for very low-income households with supportive services and the Food Bank plans to build a permanent facility – enabling them to move out of cramped storage containers and better provide food for islanders.
• Continue to steward land, provide affordable access and support for homebuyers and renters; and  
• When federal funds were cut, this community rallied through GiveOrcas to fund the critical housing counseling and homebuyer education services that are essential for homebuyers’ success. 

In my annual report message, I wrote about a paradox: On the one hand being part of a seasoned team who accomplishes a lot, and yet, also being beginners in the journey of how to hand the reins to the next generation. The change in staff will occur in waves between now and 2030 and we’re striving to be thoughtful to pass along OPAL’s core values and guiding principles. Having a strong, engaged and thoughtful board of trustees will be critical.

For the staff, we believe the apprenticeship model is a good fit: bringing on new staff to overlap with long-time staff so that we can pass along the lessons learned. Future staff roles will be different than they are now. Their jobs will be more specialized and there will be more of them, because maintaining what we’ve built, is, in fact, harder than building it in the first place. By apprenticing, new staff and board members can integrate the past with the future they will create. 

Two important first steps for new staffing occurred in 2025: 

• OPAL hired longtime islander Tom Tillman for the newly created position of Facilities Manager. His primary focus is maintaining the buildings and grounds for all of OPAL’s 104 rental homes. He also helps occasionally with issues that arise in ownership neighborhoods. 
• OPAL also hired Lily Goldberg as the Associate Homeownership Director. With a solid background in the community land trust model from her time working at the San Juan Island Home Trust, she is learning from Julie Brunner about guiding and facilitating people’s journeys from applying to purchase a home to providing support for homeowners who need a helping hand now and then. 
  

Holding paradox can generate creativity. We will do our best over the coming years to balance the best of what we’ve nurtured at OPAL with the fresh ideas that come from newcomers. Thank you for your support. We will keep you informed as the journey unfolds over the next four years.