NLIHC wrapped up its first Racial Equity Cohort on June 20 after ten months of meetings, trainings, and workshops held with housing advocates from across the country. The Racial Equity Cohort was a subgroup of 16 NLIHC state and tribal partner organizations actively working to incorporate racial equity policies, tools, and practices into their organizations. NLIHC convened the cohort to facilitate peer learning, build the capacity of partners to advance racial equity within their organizations, and identify key themes, resources, and strategies to share broadly with its state and tribal partner network.
The Racial Equity Cohort included monthly virtual meetings facilitated by NLIHC staff that covered a range of topics including successful trainings, data and metrics, addressing racist comments and navigating through discomfort, and supporting housing developers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color. Dushaw Hockett of Safe Places for the Advancement of Community and Equity (SPACEs) led a racial bias training for the group and Rebecca Bennet of Emerging Wisdom facilitated a half-day workshop. Cohort members were invited to give updates about their racial equity work on monthly state and tribal partner calls and other NLIHC webinars. Several cohort members participated in a panel discussion and led break-out groups on strategies to advance racial equity during NLIHC’s state and tribal partner convening in March. The cohort also participated in a fireside chat and Q&A with HUD’s senior advisor for racial equity, Ms. Adjoa B. Asamoah.
Over the course of the cohort, partners identified the following themes as central to advancing racial equity and inclusion within their organizations.
- Understanding their personal commitment to racial equity work
- Defining and measuring success for their organization
- Collecting and using racial equity data
- Engaging and diversifying their network and board members
- Authentically engaging people with lived expertise
- Incorporating racial equity goals into their policy agenda
- Shifting organizational culture and dismantling white dominant cultures
“I appreciated building relationships and meeting people doing this work all across the country,” said Ma.Caroline Lopez, director of equity, racial justice, and culture with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance. “I connected with some of the cohort members outside of the meetings and hope to stay in touch in the future. There was a lot of growth.”
“It’s been a learning experience for me as a Black woman from rural Georgia,” said Dr. Bambie Hayes-Brown, executive director of Georgia Advancing Communities Together and NLIHC board member. “I’m more aware that some people may not fully understand racial equity terms and that we need to engage our siblings in this racial equity work.”
The Racial Equity Cohort was one of many actions undertaken in the past year to advance racial equity and inclusion in NLIHC’s policy analysis and strategy, internal operations and relationships, and work with external partners – an initiative called IDEAS. NLIHC will continue supporting cohort alumni in various ways and will launch a new Racial Equity Cohort of state and tribal partners in the fall.
“We are grateful for the commitment cohort members have made both personally and through their organizations to ground their work in an understanding and pursuit of equity and racial justice,” said Renee Willis, senior vice president for racial equity, diversity, and inclusion. “The process of engaging our state and tribal partner organizations in this work has given us all the opportunity to sit fully in our commitment to equity and racial justice and begin to embrace and implement real change.”