NCHH Supports

BLACK LIVES MATTER

a statement of position by Amanda Reddy and Christopher Jones

The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and all who are working towards and yearning for racial justice.

Recently, it seems like every email and meeting opens by acknowledging how heavy the last few weeks have been, but the epidemic of racism has plagued our country since before its founding. This has been heavy for a long time, and it is time for more of us, including NCHH as an institution, to shoulder more of the responsibility for ending it.

As an organization, we’ve been reflecting a lot on how much of the work we do is necessary because of systemic racism and how although we have evidence about how we can mitigate the effects of racist housing policy, we know much less about how to dismantle the systems that perpetuate them. So we’re going to be learning and listening a lot over the coming months and years. True allyship is a practice, not a destination, and we are long past the time when it is enough to not be racist. We must learn how and commit to being anti-racist.

We don’t know exactly what that looks like for NCHH just yet, but we know that releasing a public statement is the easy part. Backing it up with sustained action is how we’ll actually make change, both internally and externally, and we’re committed to both.

We appreciate those of you who are already doing this important work and those who are committed to staying on this journey until the fact that Black lives matter is embedded in our systems, policies, institutions, culture, and day-to-day interactions.

Christopher Jones, PhD                                        Amanda Reddy, MS
President, Board of Directors                             Executive Director