Our Race Equity Vision

CSH aspires to be a courageous, innovative, anti-racist leader supporting the ability of communities and systems to serve all racial and ethnic groups equitably. CSH believes the path to racial equity is grounded in the voices and experiences of those disparately impacted by structural racism and will only be attained through deliberate practices, policies, and programming that produce and sustain racially equitable outcomes. CSH envisions a more just and equitable world where everyone has the housing and services they need to thrive in the communities they call home.

Bending the Arc

Centuries of systemic racism have led to the systematic denial of wealth-building opportunities and upward mobility for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). Given this country's pervasive legacy of racism, it is imperative that organizations working to eliminate homelessness actively disrupt patterns of inequality and examine how their practices may further disadvantage marginalized groups and communities. Our resolve in advancing equitable, supportive housing must ensure that we center race equity in everything that we do.

Building an Anti-racist, Race Equity Culture

The work of advancing racial equity requires us to be, as James Baldwin describes, “critical lovers” of our institutions, to examine and interrogate all our lines of business in pursuit of transformative change. CSH has started the journey from within to create a framework to guide a long-term change management strategy that will operationalize our race equity goals.

Using Data to Drive Equitable Results

Data must be integral to our work because we cannot fix what we do not accurately measure. Therefore, CSH resolves to continue to provide tools like the Racial Disparities and Disproportionality Index (RDDI) and Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) that guide practitioners in the ethical and actionable utility of quantitative and qualitative data in service of achieving more equitable outcomes.

Focusing on Thriving

CSH resolves to ensure that people affected by racism and institutionalization achieve more than a stable home, but a home in a community of their choice where they can thrive. Learn more about the CSH Thrive Framework. 

Bridging Access to Capital for BIPOC Developers

BIPOC owned or led housing developers are woefully underrepresented in the affordable and supportive housing industries. CSH works to bridge access to capital and build the capacity of BIPOC developers through financing and technical assistance while working with local government partners to center equity within their own funding decisions. The CSH Redesigning Access by Centering Equity (RACE) initiative seeks to raise and distribute $65 million in capital and support to BIPOC owned or led developers.

Providing Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Grounded in Equity

CSH designs and provides Training/Technical Assistance rooted in equity that values collaboration with people with lived experiences of homelessness and advances equitable solutions rooted in data, research, and promising and evidence-based practices. Learn more about our training, technical assistance, and consulting. 

The CSH Race Equity Framework

In November 2021, we published "Bending the Arc Toward Equity: The CSH Race Equity Framework and Journey Toward Transformative Organizational Change." The framework was a journey that began with our staff, Board of Directors, partners, and funders and took on even greater urgency in 2020 as the nation came to grips with civil unrest and racial and economic reckoning. It was then that CSH declared that it was working to become an anti-racist organization. We invite you to read this framework describing our early efforts on this journey and how we plan to operationalize this work internally and externally. Please send us feedback, share what you are doing, and join us in this effort. This Framework was made possible in part with support from Bank of America.

The Race Equity Framework explains how CSH plans to operationalize racial equity from within and provides practical approaches for organizations and practitioners seeking to center racial equity in their work to end homelessness and advance housing solutions that are grounded in equity.

Access the CSH Race Equity Framework
Afro-Caribbean Family Taking a Break on Moving Day

Upcoming Equity-Focused Webinars

Sponsored by Wells Fargo

Community & Systems Partnerships: Using Actionable Data to Drive Equitable Results

Tuesday, December 7, 2021, 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET

This interactive workshop explores how communities utilize CSH’s Racial Disparities & Disproportionality Index (RDDI) as an approach for cross-sector data collection and analyses that center racial equity in data practice to enable transformative systems change. Click here to sign up!

Community & Systems Partnerships: Using Data to Co-Design Strategies that Advance Racial Equity

Friday, December 17, 2021, 12:00 - 1:00 PM ET

This webinar provides insights, practical approaches, and tools for authentic community engagement that amplifies community voice and leans into the wisdom of lived experience to drive equitable systems change. Click here to sign up!

   CSH Resources

   CSH Statements on Race Equity

"If we can do this work right, it’s part of the long-term sustained impact of shifting power from institutions to people."

CSH Staffer