At HDC, we often speak of our collective as a movement. We know that solving the problems that our region faces isn’t done by a single person or organization but is the result of countless individual steps that, when taken together, make a tremendous difference. We know this from the housing work we do every day—building, together, thousands of affordable homes throughout Seattle and King County for over the past 35 years. We also know that movements require momentum to thrive—when we become stagnant or complacent, we can no longer call our work a movement.
Racial equity is one of the critical movements at HDC. Advancing racial equity requires all of us working together for the long-term. It requires dedication—a collective willingness to keep trying, even when it’s not perfect and especially when it’s uncomfortable, taking steps to keep the needle moving.
As we approach the end of the year, we want to take a moment to check in on our movement and our shared commitment to dismantle racism and, in its place, build equitable, inclusive communities.
Some of the steps we’ve taken as a movement to move the needle on creating equitable communities include:
At the individual level, our Housing Development Internship Program gives racially and socio-economically diverse students an opportunity to get nine months of paid hands-on experience in affordable housing development, while also receiving mentorship and other support. We’re also working to diversify our sector through our Leadership Development Survey Course, which has had 275 graduates to date and has been a cornerstone of HDC programming since 2008. We’ve become more intentional in how we recruit and select participants for this program, and our latest cohorts have had over 50% BIPOC participants.
At the member level, we’ve launched the Community-Based Organization (CBO) Affinity Group, which was formed as a space to identify and address barriers to community-driven development. We’ve also launched two race-based caucusing cohorts for members who have been through racial equity trainings and are looking to broaden their impact within their own organizations.
We continue to lead advocacy work with the Black Home Initiative, and with the passage of the Covenant Homeownership Account bill. HDC has been a critical partner in creating this first in the nation Special Purpose Credit Program, which aims to address housing discrimination.
Finally, within our own board and staff, we’ve completed a series of Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion trainings together, and we have partnered with organizations like The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond and Courageous Conversation to offer trainings to members.
Our Next Step
We’ve built incredible momentum over the last four years, and now we’re gearing up to take our next step.
At our summer quarterly member meeting, we shared that HDC is working on a Racial Equity Commitment that we will roll out in 2025. This commitment is intended to provide a framework for member organizations to commit to taking meaningful and actionable change by selecting goals and actions, specific to their organization to move the needle on dismantling racism and increasing equity. No matter where you and your organization are on your journey, we hope to help you commit to doing what you can do. HDC is committed to supporting your success in this critically necessary work.
As we prepare to launch the Commitment, we want to hear from our members. Please fill out our short, four question, Racial Equity Commitment Member Survey from the perspective of you as an individual.
Over the next two months, HDC is offering informational webinars and opportunities to share your thoughts and feedback, as we go through the process of finalizing and launching the Racial Equity Commitment, the times and dates of which you can find below. Please register today!
Additionally, in Spring 2025, members may be invited to join a cohort of early adopters, prior to the wider launch of the Racial Equity Commitment in mid-2025. This early adopter cohort is designed to support organizations through their goal-setting processes, and the lessons we learn from this cohort will inform HDC’s work when the Commitment released broadly for all of HDC membership.
We are so excited to be creating this framework to help us all keep moving the needle and creating a more just world. Thank you to all of our members who have taken the journey with us so far.
