I am a holistic urbanist, affordable housing developer, charter school co-founder, and essayist. For more than 30 years, I have worked at the intersection of housing, education, history, and culture—exploring how cities grow, how communities thrive, and how the stories we inherit shape the places we build.

Through RCG Companies, LLC, the integrated platform I founded, I bring together affordable housing development, adaptive reuse, cultural reclamation rooted in African American maritime and waterfront heritage, and urban research and thought leadership. I believe development is both practical and philosophical. Projects must be financially sound, but they should also strengthen communities, honor history, and expand opportunity.

I am also the co-founder and CEO of Dr. Lena Edwards Academic Charter School in Jersey City, the first private school in New Jersey to transition to a public charter school. Today, the school serves nearly 400 students in grades K–8. My work in education reflects the same conviction that guides my work in development: schools, like housing, are essential civic infrastructure. Communities flourish when they invest in both.

My work has convinced me that building thriving communities is about far more than buildings. It is about expanding opportunity, preserving memory, strengthening institutions, and creating places where people can flourish. I believe storytelling is as essential to creating thriving communities as finance, policy, or design because the stories we tell about places shape what becomes possible within them.

I write about these intersections — urbanism, equity, African American history and cultural reclamation, the hidden histories embedded in land and water. I believe storytelling is as essential to creating thriving communities as finance, policy, or design because the stories we tell about places shape what becomes possible within them.

My writing on Substack is where the threads of that work come together.

Essays delivered to your inbox: subscribe at christophergarlin.substack.com.

Thank you for visiting. I hope you’ll read, reflect, and join the conversation.