Race, Equity, and Inclusion

REI Programs:

⇒ Housing Development Internship Program

⇒ Recruiting Diversity Taskforce

⇒ Black Homeownership Initiative

REI Resources:

⇒ HDC’s Racial Equity Toolkit

⇒ Promising Practice Profiles

⇒ Recommended Readings

Housing Development Internship

HDC’s Housing Development Internship Program aims to support the next generation of diverse affordable housing professionals. The affordable housing sector is a vibrant community of committed leaders and passionate professionals all dedicated to HDC’s collective vision. This internship aims to expose driven and curious students, looking to be a part of a mission-driven working community, to HDC’s network and opportunities in the field.

Interns are individuals/students who identify as Person of Color, are currently enrolled in college or university (associate/trade, undergrad, or grad school, preferably entering their final program year), and who will commit to 9 months of part-time paid internship/work in addition to their academic program. The HDIP runs end of September – June.

We’re thrilled to be working with eight HDIP interns for the 2022/23 program year. Click here to learn more about each intern.

Recruiting Diversity Taskforce

HDC’s Recruiting Diversity Task Force is charged with providing recommendations and making the connections necessary to ensure racial equity is a cornerstone of the organization’s vision. Within the broader goal of racial equity, the task force in its current state is focused on recruiting a diverse workforce in the affordable housing sector and ingraining the principles of racial equity into HDC’s member organizations to increase POC retention and mobility throughout the sector.

Responsibilities of RDTF

Black Homeownership Initiative

Study after study and an overwhelming, consistent, and oft-ignored community voice have made it clear – Black, Indigenous and People of Color cannot access equitable pathways to opportunity, including intergenerational wealth creation, due to systemically and institutionally racist policies and practices. In most all respects, the inequities are stark. Aligning interests and resources that focus on equity, infrastructure development, housing production and preservation, and underwriting and lending could lead to doubling the BIPOC homeownership rate in the next couple of decades.

HDC is spearheading this homeownership effort in collaboration with the Coalition for More Housing Choices and our dedicated partners, and is more immediately focused on Black homeownership rates. Read more about our coalition’s efforts, including our challenge statement and Seven Point Plan for Black Homeownership in the Puget Sound.

Racial Equity Toolkit

This toolkit is designed so that it can be customized to fit the needs and characteristics of your organization. This tool is meant to provide context for why racial equity work is important by providing a backdrop for our efforts. Feel free to use this to educate your fellow staff and management to help achieve a common, baseline understanding in your organization.

The layout of the document follows the format of the 4 principles behind this project:

  • Education on racial equity
  • Identification of racial equity issues in organizations
  • Creation of a plan for change
  • Implementation of the tools

The individual tools are designed to fit these principles accordingly.

Racial Equity Toolkit (downloadable PDF)

Additional Tools:

HDC Member Promising Practices Profiles

Member organizations that have made great strides in implementing racial equity work can create a profile of a practice that has been successful within their organization. The goal is to help share knowledge and experience with others to build stronger, more sustainable affiliates, which will help to create stronger communities. If you would like to share a promising practice for racial equity with us, please fill out a Racial Equity Promising Practices Capture Form.

Check out some of our member’s promising practices:

Recommended Reading

Recommended Readings by Black Authors:

  • Born a Crime
    Trevor Noah
  • Emergent Strategies: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
    Adrienne Maree Brown
  • How To Be An Antiracist
    Ibram X. Kendi
  • Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
    Bryan Stevenson
  • On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope
    DeRay Mckesson
  • Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing
    Dr. Joy DeGruy
  • Race For Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership
    Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
  • Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class
    Robin D. Kelly
  • So You Want to Talk About Race
    Ijeoma Oluo
  • Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
    Ibram X. Kendi
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
    Michelle Alexander
  • 10 Books About Race to Read Instead of Asking a Person of Color to Explain Things to You

Articles:

Additional REI resources can be found on our Member Portal

Thank your to our Race, Equity, and Inclusion sponsors that help make this work possible.