Shaniqua Bowden

Pronouns: she/her

Shaniqua, who first fell in love with green space as a kid dancing under the stars in her hometown of South Boston, Virginia, later moved to New York City and has now been a resident of Kingston, NY for nearly 10 years. At the Kingston Land Trust, Shaniqua leads a virtual series, called Land and Resilience, on how the land can meet the community’s needs. She also leads the KLT’s Land in Black Hands initiative. She has been KLT’s point person on Kingston housing initiatives, including her participation in the development of a CLT in Kingston. She has been co-leading the development of a report on how land trusts and housing organizations can work together to develop affordable eco-dwellings for people who are unhoused, as part of KLT's focus on socially responsible conservation. And in her work, Shaniqua incorporates and acknowledges culture and heritage and its potential for moving land conservation work forward. Shaniqua also consults on behalf of the KLT.

As a proud mom and active entrepreneur Shaniqua is the co-founder of my Kingston kids, an organization originally created to help the parents of Kingston find children’s events and activities in a central location. Other community projects she’s worked on include Black History Month Kingston and the Nubian Cafe. Shaniqua is dedicated to ensuring Kingston is a well-rounded community and has come to KLT to assist in their mission of sharing public land access to all.

Photo Credit: Kate Callahan