Racial Justice and Equity Statement
RHLS is committed to integrating Racial Equity in all aspects of our work, in pursuit of achieving Racial Justice in housing, utilities, and community/economic development.
We believe all people deserve housing that is healthy, safe, and affordable in a community of choice where they can thrive.
Defining Racial Justice and Racial Equity
RHLS adopts the amended definitions of Racial Justice and Racial Equity used by Race Forward[i] to ensure consistent and shared understanding of our Racial Equity and Racial Justice work:
- Racial Justice is the state in which racial hierarchies are eliminated, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), in particular, have the dignity, resources, power, and self determination to thrive.
- Racial Equity is the process through which Racial Justice can be achieved. Racial Equity requires ongoing and intentional work to transform policies, practices, programs, systems, and structures which perpetuate deeply rooted racial inequities and intersectional harms.
Implementation of Racial Justice and Racial Equity
RHLS, as an organization, will implement Racial Equity and work towards Racial Justice by:
- Engaging in work that directly repairs past and current racial inequities in the housing, utilities, community/economic development, and legal systems.
- Advocating for racial equity in new and existing policies, programs, and developments.
- Identifying and redressing the ways in which we have in the past and continue to reinforce white supremacy in our work (internally and externally, intentionally or unintentionally).
We know to be successful, our organization, our work, and each of us as individuals must:
- Be informed by listening to the needs and priorities of, and solutions put forward by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) working toward Racial Justice in housing, utilities, community/economic development, and the law.
- Do our best to approach our work and our interactions with a racial equity lens.
- Understand that our racial equity and racial justice work is evolving, and that we may not always meet our intentions with our actions.
- Receive critique and correction openly, acknowledge and apologize when we do harm, and change what we do in response.
The Racial Justice and Racial Equity statement will, along with Economic Justice be consistently considered in our work.
[i] Race Forward, https://www.raceforward.org/about/what-is-racial-equity-key-concepts. You can download a copy of our Racial Justice and Equity Statement here.
In an effort to ensure transparency in our work, RHLS and PULP are committed to releasing regular reports detailing our progress.
Click to Download: Racial Equity Report July through December 2023
Click to Download: Racial Equity Report January through June 2023
Click to Download: Racial Equity Report June through December 2022
Click to Download: Racial Equity Report October through June 2022
Click to Download: Racial Equity Report January through September 2021
Click to Download: Racial Equity Report June through December 2020
The RHLS Board of Directors passed two resolutions at the October 7, 2020 meeting regarding the repudiation of racism in all forms and the effort to hold ourselves accountable for engaging in the work of dismantling systems of oppression. Read the resolutions here:
Click to Download: RHLS Board of Directors Resolution on Racism
Click to Download: RHLS Board of Directors Resolution on Diversity