In 2026, Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund backed a plan to transform 600 vacant Cleveland plots; here’s how neglected land could become community assets

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon. Recently, he had announced a major investment a few months back. Earth Fund pledged a $10 million investment, which was aimed to transform 600 vacant properties in Cleveland, Ohio, into green spaces for local communities.

Notably, the Cleveland project is one of them. It will focus on two neighbourhoods on the city’s east side, Hough and St. Clair-Superior. Around 17,000 people live there and they have faced years of disinvestment, high vacancy rates and a shortage of trees and green spaces.

The aim is to turn publicly owned vacant plots into natural landscapes, small parks, community gathering areas and urban agriculture spaces. The Western Reserve Land Conservancy will carry out the work in partnership with the City of Cleveland.

Why are 600 vacant plots being transformed?

Cleveland has a vacant land problem and over the years it has only grown worse. The possible reasons for this could reportedly be population decline, the loss of industrial activity and economic difficulties.

Bezos Earth Fund estimates that more than half of all parcels in the two neighbourhoods targeted by the project are vacant. These can create problems for nearby residents. It can also place an additional burden on the city.

ALSO READ: Meet Chris Olah, who left university at 18 without a degree, got into Google Brain through his blog posts and went on to co-found Anthropic

It aims to change how these properties are used. The project is designed to create green spaces that residents can access as part of their daily lives.

How much money will be allocated?

For this project, Bezos Earth Fund has allocated $10 million. It will be used to work on the properties over three years.

It will involve cleaning up the sites and improving their environmental conditions. Restoration will take place across individual plots and neighbourhood blocks.

ALSO READ: Meet Vasya Tremsin, whose startup raised $11.5 million to turn wildfire sensors into watchdogs for power grids, solar farms, here’s what it does

The project aims to make green spaces a regular part of the local environment rather than something residents have to travel to reach.

According to Cleveland Mayor M. Bibb, this will help address the effects of decades of disinvestment and support public health, neighbourhood safety and economic opportunity.