Race, Equity, and Inclusion

HDC Call to Action:
In response to both recent atrocities and the systemic racism that has always been with us as a nation, we all have work to do: whether it’s creating time and space for healing and self-care for BIPOC, or creating time to learn, grow, and step-up/out for white allies. Much has been written and shared in recent months about how to make that journey.

It’s no different for us as organizations. Our call to action is to commit to going beyond the statement, the background image, and the hashtag, and truly reflect on what we as organizations – especially those of us that are white-led – are doing to put money, access, and resources into the hands and pockets of QTBIPOC staff and communities.

Do you want to apply a racial equity lens into your organizational culture? Commit to completing an assessment by utilizing HDC’s Organizational Assessment Tool.

Are you, as an organization, creating time and space for QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) to convene together with other staff of color? Consider creating regular race-based caucuses, or encourage your staff to join us for HDC’S Race-Based Caucuses for BIPOC and white folx respectively. Check our calendar for more information.

Are you committed to equitable funding processes, and want to hold your organizations accountable to marginalized populations? Utilize the Community Centric Fundraising page to integrate race, equity, and social justice into the fundraising process.

Want to see more BIPOC leaders and staff in the affordable housing sector? Consider becoming a Housing Development Internship Program host agency, or joining HDC’S Recruiting Diversity Taskforce, which acts as the HDIP governing body for the sector.

We look forward to working with you and learning from you. Please reach out Aselefech with questions on ways to engage with any of the opportunities/programs listed above and below. Thank you for your commitment to this work!

REI Programs:

⇒ Housing Development Internship Program

⇒ Recruiting Diversity Taskforce

⇒ REI Learning Cohort

REI Resources:

⇒ HDC’s Racial Equity Toolkit

⇒ Promising Practice Profiles

⇒ Recommended Readings

Housing Development Internship

We have created the Housing Development Internship Program 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 committed to the HDC’s vision. This internship aims to expose driven and curious students looking to be a part of a mission-driven working community.

Meet our 2020-2021 interns!

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

Host Trainings – Read our program recap from the People’s Institute’s Undoing Racism Workshop!
Host Race-Based Caucuses – Register for our November BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) Caucus.
Oversight for the Housing Development Internship

REI Learning Cohort

HDC developed the Racial Equity Learning Cohort, along with our Racial Equity Toolkit, to help member organizations be intentional in their work, as well as to ground organizations in foundational information on racial equity.

We have three goals in this endeavor:

Support HDC members in completing the Racial Equity Toolkit, particularly the Organizational Assessment and Workplan.
Support a cohort of 4-5 HDC members to participate in a learning community of peers.
Work together to build organizational capacity, identify opportunities to leverage resources, and share best practices.

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.