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Archive for category: HAND News

Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness Assistance

June 24, 2020
June 24, 2020

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is intended to offer businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic economic assistance with completely forgivable principal. But to get that full loan forgiveness, recipients must navigate a process with complex rules and calculations, and any forgiveness application errors, documentation missteps, and other lapses mean exposure: A risk of leaving some PPP loan forgiveness on the table.

If you or your business received a PPP loan, CohnReznick is here to assist you with navigating the forgiveness process and calculation. The organization offers customized assistance with PPP loan forgiveness consulting and support, as well as agreed-upon procedures (AUP) engagements. 

It can provide the following services to help ensure proper governance through the PPP loan forgiveness process based on your businesses’ individual needs:

PPP loan forgiveness consulting
Gain confidence that the complex PPP forgiveness calculations have been done correctly, with the right methods. Customized to your needs, the consulting services help support your application and optimize your forgiveness, taking into consideration such items as eligible payroll and non-payroll costs, optimization and calculation of full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), salary computations, rehire exemptions, required documentation, and other items relating to the forgiveness calculation. 

Agreed-upon procedures (AUP) engagements
Acting in accordance with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) guidelines, the Assurance team members will conduct procedures relating to your documentation of expenses supporting your PPP loan forgiveness application. These procedures help ensure proper governance and can offer your boards, audit committees, and investors a sense of security.

If you’re interested in learning more and reaching out to the CohnReznick team, visit the website here.

0 Comments/in HAND News, Opportunities /by H.A.N.D.

HAND Members Stand in Solidarity Against Racism

June 23, 2020
June 23, 2020
 
Recently HAND released a statement on the acts of racial injustice we have seen throughout the country. Without equivocation, HAND’s Board of Directors & Staff decries the manifestations of white supremacy and systemic racism upon which this country was founded and prevails today. Black lives matter. We say the names of our brothers and sisters whose lives were cut short in senseless brutality. We stand with their families in solidarity and affirm our commitment to remain dogged in our pursuit for justice. We encourage you to read the full statement here.
 
HAND members are taking a stand against racism and affirming their commitment to centering racial equity in their work as well: 
 
AHC Inc.
Alexandria Housing Development Corporation
Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing
Ballard Spahr
Bank of America
BB&T & Suntrust, Now Truist
Capital Impact Partners
Citi
City First Bank
City of Baltimore
City of Takoma Park
The Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development
Coalition for Smarter Growth
CohnReznick LLP
Community Development Network of Maryland
Community Housing Partners
Cornerstones
Dantes Partners
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
DC Housing Finance Agency
District of Columbia
Enterprise Community Partners
Foulger – Pratt
Frederick County
Greater Washington Urban League/National Urban League
GRID Alternatives
Hooten Construction
Housing Initiative Partnership
Howard County
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Jubilee Housing
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Low Income Investment Fund
Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition
McCormack Baron Salazar
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Mi Casa
Mission First Housing Group
Montgomery County
Montgomery Housing Partnership
N Street Village
National Housing Trust
National Low Income Housing Coalition
NHP Foundation
Nixon Peabody
Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance
Northern Virginia – City of Alexandria, City of Fairfax, Fairfax County, Arlington County, City of Falls Church
PNC Bank
Pennrose
Prince George’s County
Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC
So Others Might Eat
The Corporation for Supportive Housing
TD Bank
Virginia Community Capital
Volunteers of America
WC Smith
Wells Fargo
WinnCompanies
University of Maryland
0 Comments/in HAND News, Industry Highlights /by H.A.N.D.

Racial Equity Learning Series Session 4 Recap: Operationalizing Racial Equity

June 19, 2020
June 19, 2020
 
RED LINES, WHITE PAPERS, & BLUE PRINTS: A FOUR-PART LEARNING SERIES EXPLORING THE DIMENSIONS OF RACISM AND STRATEGIES TOWARDS RACIAL EQUITY
 
SESSION 4: OPERATIONALIZING RACIAL EQUITY
 

In early June, HAND’s cohort of 120 members & partners convened for the fourth and final installment of Red Lines, White Papers, & Blue Prints: A Four-Part Learning Series Exploring the Dimensions of Racism and Strategies Towards Racial Equity on Operationalizing Racial Equity. This webcast was designed to have participants move from a place of learning to action, building on the foundation of the first three programs: Structural Racism, Implicit Bias and White Privilege. We were pleased to host Ronald Galvin (Vice President for Racial Equity and the Democratic Economy, The Democracy Collaborative) and Angela Carlberg (Project Manager for Racial Equity and the Democratic Economy, The Democracy Collaborative) as the featured speakers.
 
The goal of this session was to support members with:
 
  • Reflection on key takeaways from the first three sessions;
  • Understanding the role of individuals in the system of racial inequity;
  • Owning the learned challenges and opportunities pertaining to racial equity;
  • Articulating a vision for an equitable future;
  • and preparation to operationalize that vision.
 
Cohort members had an opportunity to think about their own line of work and how systems within the industry exacerbate disparities. Participants left the session equipped with tools to clearly define specific issues and apply effective solutions that move the needle toward equitable outcomes. Many thanks to all who joined! You can read more thoughts directly from the cohort and our speakers below.
 
Thank you to our series sponsors, DC Housing Finance Agency, Kaiser Permanente, Wells Fargo and Meyer Foundation!
 
 

REFLECTIONS FROM OUR SPEAKERS
& THE COHORT

 
Angela Carlberg (The Democracy Collaborative) on recognizing systems:
“So this is a good example of how we imagine what a system looks like – thinking about a bird that exists in a cage. If we were to look at one bar of the cage, we can’t see anything wrong, they could just free themselves and they would be just fine. But what ends up happening and what we tend to overlook, is that there are multiple bars and they are arranged in a specific way that reinforce one another. So as we think about white supremacy, and systemic racism, and in a larger context, anti-blackness, that tends to ground how we exist in space with one another.”
 
Ronald Galvin (The Democracy Collaborative) on
collective pain:
“We’re all muddling our way through this moment and black bodies continue to be literally under the foot of this country’s powers – and we’ve literally seen that with our own eyes. The country is on fire literally, figuratively and spiritually. We all are probably asking ourselves the question, “What more can we do?” and while we are trying to honor our professional and personal commitments and relationships, there’s a lot of pain.”
 
Grace Morris (Heritage Housing Partners Corporation) on educating the next generation:
“We all know that hate is not something we’re born with, and we don’t have racial feelings when we come here to this earth, and we are taught to hate, and I’m struggling with that. That is still something that is clearly going on in our in our country, that we are passing this down to our children, and that’s my biggest frustration, and I’m struggling with how do we get our arms around that issue. How do we change our education system and get information to our children so that they are learning these things as early on as possible?”
 
Martin Mellett (Jubilee Housing) on primary and
secondary violence:
“I was thinking about Paulo Freire, who is a social scientist from Latin America who talks about primary and secondary violence. I think that until we really understand the primary violence, which is the racial inequity, and all that comes with that, we’re going to continue to have the secondary violence…until we start really diving into that – and it gets into the health area and housing area and policing area and voter representation – we’re going to continue to have the other. So that’s the challenge for me – how do we continue to stay focused on that and not get lost in, “are they looting?” which is the secondary violence.”
 
Howard Harris (DCSEU) on the importance of educating ourselves & accountability:
“As a Black man, navigating corporate spaces all my life, I’ve had to learn about people. I’ve had to learn about culture. I’ve had to learn how to operate in certain spaces. And so when people come to me and say, ‘What do I need to do to do better?’ or ‘What do I need to do to be able to communicate? I don’t want to say the wrong words, I don’t want to say the wrong things,’ my question back to them is always, “How much individual learning have you tried to do?” At the end of the day, organizations are built up of individuals. So if everybody in the organization is anti-racist, then you’re probably going to have an anti-racist organization… what I’m doing is trying to provide somewhat of a roadmap of accountability – if you want to say that we are an anti-racist company, what are we doing to address some of the policies? How are we embedding this into the culture so that it actually produces results that go far beyond when the feeling of George Floyd’s death goes away?… If we’re not doing that on both sides – white, black – if we’re not holding others accountable for being anti-racist, then there’s no conversation to be had.”
 
Steve Brigham (Purple Line Corridor Coalition) on the invisibility of white privilege:
“…It’s beyond just systems and institutions. It’s about white-dominated culture, it’s the water that we swim in. And so I really do think at the most meta level, that’s the biggest struggle we have as a country, is that if you if you can’t see how this country as a white person has systematically privileged you, and all the generations before you – and continues to – it just makes it harder to climb the mountain for me individually in trying to do this work, but for all of us in trying to do this very hard work, because that privilege is just so hard to see for us. It’s invisible to us. And I think the culture kind of intentionally makes it invisible to us.”
 
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SERIES
 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

 

READ THE RECAP FROM SESSION 1
 
CHECK OUT PHOTOS FROM SESSION 1
 
READ THE RECAP FROM SESSION 2
 
READ THE RECAP FROM SESSION 3
 

 

0 Comments/in HAND News /by H.A.N.D.

OCC Releases Final CRA Rule

June 9, 2020
June 9, 2020

The latest on Community Reinvestment Act Reform from The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition:

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has released its final rule on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) reform, just six weeks after more than 7,000 comments were submitted to the OCC and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on their proposed rule. See the OCC’s press release here. 

Compliance with the final rule will be required in 2023 for larger banks and 2024 for smaller banks. However there are still key details, like the evaluation thresholds, which will require further rulemaking before the rule can be implemented. It is also possible that changes in the Administration or Congress could prompt further revisions, or even postponing or repealing the law before it is implemented. 

For a detailed overview of the final rule, check out AHTCC’s website.

0 Comments/in Industry Highlights /by H.A.N.D.

Why HAND Chose to Place Racial Equity at the Center of Our Work

June 4, 2020
June 4, 2020

Without equivocation, HAND’s Board of Directors & Staff decries the manifestations of white supremacy and systemic racism upon which this country was founded and prevails today. Black lives matter. We say the names of our brothers and sisters whose lives were cut short in senseless brutality. We stand with their families in solidarity and affirm our commitment to remain dogged in our pursuit for justice.

Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. Philando Castile. Freddie Gray. Michael Brown. Korryn Gaines. Alton Sterling. Sandra Bland. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Shantel Davis. Trayvon Martin. Botham Jean. Their lives matter. Yet, there are countless others.

Prior to the ratification of the 14th Amendment, black lives were merely a fraction — an assigned value of three-fifths to be exact. Minimal progress has occurred to fully recognize and value black life. Four hundred years have passed, and black people are still fighting for their humanity, their freedom, their equality and now their survival. This country’s collective knee is still on the collective neck of black communities. All the while, a pandemic remains a lethal threat for people of color whose bodies have borne the burden of chronic disinvestment, active neglect, and continued insult resulting in toxic trauma and unrelenting stress and pain.

We remain committed to organizing you – our members, around an agenda focused on real paths toward a racially just and equitable region. We must rise to this moment. We must not be silent, rather boldly affirm our commitment to dismantle this vicious system of inequity.

HAND members last saw each other in person in March, when Dr. Ibram Kendi offered words for our racial equity cohort to reflect on. Today they seem to be more timely than ever:

“We have been taught that ignorance and hate lead to racist ideas, that lead to racist policies,” Kendi said. “If the fundamental problem is ignorance and hate, then your solutions are going to be focused on education, love and persuasion… The actual foundation of racism is not ignorance and hate, but self- interest, particularly economic and political and cultural. Self-interest drives racist policies that benefit that self-interest. When the policies are challenged because they produce inequalities, racist ideas spring up to justify those policies. Hate flows freely from there.”

Join us, HAND Members. Join us, as we rise up to meet this moment.

HAND Board of Directors & Staff


 
Let us rise to this moment.
 
Warning: some of the content below contains strong language which may be unsuitable for children.
 
  I just wanna live  
  CNN commentator tears up over George Floyd's death: It's hard to be black in this country Zianna Oliphant gives a heartfelt speech about what's going on in the world  
   
  Must watch: Woman gives powerful speech to looters on streets of NYC U.S. flag drenched in blood  

 

1 Comment/in Uncategorized, HAND News, Industry Highlights /by HANDHousing

Join Us for the Next Racial Equity Summit Update on June 11!

May 22, 2020
May 22, 2020

Join Zoom Meeting: http://us02web.zoom.us/j/88493971563?pwd=RkpEUzE3V1BqcDEwVld0MEpDbkFEZz09
Meeting ID: 884 9397 1563
Password: 091820

Dial: +1 301 715 8592
Meeting ID: 884 9397 1563
Password: 091820


Save the date for September 18, 2020 for the Race, Equity & the Future of Greater Washington Regional Summit at Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC), where over 800 regional leaders from Greater Washington—D.C., Northern Virginia, and Suburban Maryland—will convene to examine existing disparities and co-create a new path toward a racially just and equitable region. While Greater Washington is one of the most socially, culturally, and economically vibrant regions in the country, it is also impacted by disparities in every aspect of life— housing, employment, education, justice, wealth and health; and through aligned and measurable action, cross-sector leaders can close the gaps.

The Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, in partnership with HAND, Bridges Across the River, Center for Nonprofit Advancement, Greater Washington Community Foundation, Leadership Greater Washington, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and United Way of the National Capital Region, will host this one-of-a-kind summit with three overarching goals:

1.   Develop a regional action agenda to advance racial equity;
2.   Elevate and expand existing racial equity work in the region and promote alignment across sectors; and
3.   Launch a 5-year regional scorecard to develop accountability framework and track sector progress in closing racial disparities in key areas.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, serving as a participant pre/during/post-summit or joining a committee, email RaceEquitySummit@gmail.com.

0 Comments/in HAND News, Opportunities, Industry Highlights /by H.A.N.D.

Five Minutes with Anne Venezia

May 19, 2020
May 19, 2020

HAND members are hard at work addressing the growing housing affordability challenge across the Capital Region. Five Minutes With is a series highlighting these individuals and organizations within our membership. This informal conversation asks HAND members about their recent projects, the affordable housing industry and more. In the latest edition, we chat with Anne Venezia, Arlington County’s new Housing Director.

In my new role, I also look forward to further collaborating with organizations like HAND and MWCOG to share ideas and problem solve. The need for new approaches at a regional level has never been greater.

Ms. Venezia brings more than 20 years of experience in housing policy and finance.Combined with her deep knowledge of Arlington and strong interpersonal skills, she was the top candidate in a national search. In her new role, Ms. Venezia will direct the Housing Division’s portfolio of financial and development programs and services.

She most recently served six months as the Acting Housing Director and was the Housing Finance Manager for four years prior. Venezia joined Arlington County in 2008 and gained experience delivering strategic financial planning, asset management, multifamily development and acquisitions, and housing policy oversight. Check out our conversation below:


HAND: You have extensive experience in the housing/community development industry – can you tell us about the journey you’ve taken to get to this point?
AV: I started my career in consulting, working on housing policy and disaster recovery at two different firms before entering the public sector. I accepted a position with the Development team in Arlington County’s Housing Division in 2008, underwriting loans to support acquisitions of new affordable units and ramping up my housing finance skills in the process. Following a re-org in 2016, I moved to a newly created Finance and Asset Management team. While managing this team, I oversaw an annual budget of $30 million for housing programs (largely multifamily development) as well as asset management and compliance functions of the County’s more than 8,000 committed affordable units, nearly $400 million in multifamily development loans, and over 200 single-family loans. While much of my background has been on the finance and data side of housing, working directly with families benefitting from these programs — whether in disaster ravaged neighborhoods or onsite at one of the County’s affordable properties — has always had the greatest impression on me, and is a reminder of how important our affordable housing work is to support these households.

HAND: Can you tell us about your latest role? How are you dealing with the impacts of COVID-19 simultaneously?
AV: I served as Acting Housing Director from November 2019 until April 2020 and was offered the permanent Housing Director position at the end of April. Coming into this role during a national pandemic has its challenges – we’re balancing existing programs with new COVID-related relief programs, all while learning new technologies that enable remote work and virtual community engagement. Thankfully, we have a dedicated and hardworking staff that has surpassed expectations in meeting these new demands and we’re looking for opportunities to improve our service delivery that can continue into a post-COVID world.

HAND: What is the most important takeaway(s) from your experience thus far that you’re bringing into your new role?
AV: While metrics can be powerful in demonstrating how impactful a housing program is (or not), the people we’re helping through our programs need to be our central focus. Especially in this new COVID reality—when households are struggling more than ever to pay for basic expenses such as housing, food, and medical care—we need to constantly re-evaluate how we can help and anticipate emerging needs. And, as budgets tighten, evaluating which programs can serve the greatest needs will allow us to support as many households as possible.

HAND: What do you think is the largest hurdle when it comes to creating and preserving affordable housing across our region
AV: While there are many challenges to affordable housing in our region, limited supply and housing types are major drivers of these constraints. Even in the era of COVID, growth continues in our region; having a limited supply of affordable housing types drives up demand and prices for the limited options that do exist. There simply aren’t enough rental options in our region to meet demand, particularly for those households earning less than 60% of area median income (AMI). This results in public sector subsidies being the primary, if not only way for households earning <60% of AMI, to live in Arlington and other high-cost areas of our region.

Further exacerbating the problem is high land values in our region, which disincentivizes production of affordable housing types on these parcels. Land owners wish to maximize returns on their properties; often it’s not economical to build smaller and potentially more affordable housing types, rental or homeownership. Instead, the housing types built on these expensive parcels often are out of reach for most low and moderate-income renters and homeowners.

The good news is we’re in an economically strong region, which can provide us with the resources needed to address these supply challenges.

HAND: What are you most looking forward to over the coming months?
AV: The saying “innovation loves a crisis” gives me hope during this unprecedented time. As a County, we’re challenging ourselves to try new approaches to continue service delivery while staff is largely remote. While we’re faced daily with the devastation of COVID on our low-income communities, these challenges are sparking creativity in our otherwise daily tasks – how can we serve 10 households with a program that typically serves 8? Is it time to resurrect programs that appeared unnecessary years ago but now are relevant again? Can we rethink opportunities for housing affordability in the face of tightening budgets?

Larger economic changes, while challenging to those markets, also may present opportunities for affordable housing. As the real estate market changes due to an increase in remote work, New York City and other urban areas see increased office vacancies as opportunities to re-purpose these spaces for affordable housing. These types of approaches could introduce new options in the DC area as well.

In my new role, I also look forward to further collaborating with organizations like HAND and MWCOG to share ideas and problem solve. The need for new approaches at a regional level has never been greater.

HAND: Do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability? If so, what do you think that is?
AV: Affordable housing challenges are complex – there isn’t a single solution that can fully meet the need. However, a multi-pronged approach could go a long way in addressing these challenges:

  • Increased supply and housing types. To meet the needs of our most vulnerable households, we need to diversify our housing stock to enable more types at a range of affordability levels. This includes reevaluating regulations that inhibit supply goals and limit affordable housing types.
  • Regional collaboration. As I shared earlier, organizations such as HAND and MWCOG enable our ability to share ideas and resources. Approaching affordability challenges more holistically will position us to provide greater options across the region.
  • Participation across sectors. This entails consistent and visible support from public agencies as well as resources and ideas from the private and nonprofit sectors. No one sector can solve the affordable housing challenge alone – everyone needs to work together to leverage our skills and resources.
  • Taking risks and trying new things. Addressing the many challenges to affordable housing requires a multi-faceted approach of traditional tools and new solutions. We need to be comfortable with trying things that maybe don’t work as intended and keep trying until an effective formula emerges. And, since affordable housing is part of a constantly evolving economy, we must always revisit our formula; solutions that work today may work differently as job and real estate markets change.

HAND: If you weren’t working in this industry, what might you be doing?
AV: Writing novels in a far-away mountain cabin. My family probably wouldn’t join me in a remote location, however, so I’d probably need to settle for writing in an inspired place closer to Arlington. 😊

0 Comments/in HAND News, Member Events & Success Stories, HAND Member Profiles, Industry Highlights /by H.A.N.D.

HAND Members Named in AHF’s Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers

May 19, 2020
May 19, 2020

 

Several HAND members were recently named among the Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2019 in Affordable Housing Finance. The following members were recognized: 

  • The Michaels Organization 
  • The NRP Group 
  • Herman & Kittle Properties 
  • McCormack Baron Salazar 
  • Pennrose
  • The Community Builders
  • Jonathan Rose Cos. 
  • Gilbane Development Co.
  • Community Housing Partners
  • Brinshore Development
  • Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing
  • PIRHL

Congratulations to our HAND member organizations and all of this year’s honorees! You can check out the full list here.

0 Comments/in HAND News, Member Events & Success Stories, Industry Highlights /by H.A.N.D.

Racial Equity Learning Series Session 3 Recap: White Privilege

May 12, 2020
May 12, 2020
 
RED LINES, WHITE PAPERS, & BLUE PRINTS: A FOUR-PART LEARNING SERIES EXPLORING THE DIMENSIONS OF RACISM AND STRATEGIES TOWARDS RACIAL EQUITY
 
SESSION 3: WHITE PRIVILEGE
 
Most of our current laws, regulations, policies and practices in areas like housing, health-care, education and law enforcement were established, or justified, in part because of assumptions about what is normal, appropriate or desirable. These assumptions tend to reflect dominant cultural narratives or norms – for example, what constitutes a “family,” who is dangerous, which groups are deserving of societal support and which are not, etc. Over time, the consequence of laws, regulations, policies and practices is a multigenerational system of inequity. This system reinforces stereotypes and access to organizational and system power. When these assumptions are codified into laws, system policies and organizational and community practices, they are part of what creates persistent advantages for some groups and persistent disadvantages for others.
 
Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue.
 
Last week, HAND’s cohort of 120 members & partners explored this topic further during the third installment of Red Lines, White Papers, & Blue Prints: A Four-Part Learning Series Exploring the Dimensions of Racism and Strategies Towards Racial Equity on White Privilege. This thought-provoking webcast built on the foundation of the second portion of the series (Implicit Bias), and we were pleased to welcome Robin DiAngelo, Ph.D. (Author, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism) as the featured speaker. Many thanks to all who joined! Hear more thoughts directly from Dr. DiAngelo below.
 
Thank you to our series sponsors, DC Housing Finance Agency, Kaiser Permanente, Wells Fargo and Meyer Foundation!
 
 

NOTEWORTHY REMARKS FROM DR. ROBIN DIANGELO

 
On racism as the status quo:
“The status quo of our society is racism. That’s the status quo. That is the norm. That is not an aberration. Racism is not an aberration. It is the norm 24 – 7 – 365 – all of our institutions effectively and efficiently reproduce and maintain racial inequality, and I as a white person move through a society in which racism and racial inequality is the norm. I move through that society in racial comfort 24 – 7. It is rare for me to be outside my racial comfort zone and most of my life I’ve been working not to go outside my racial comfort zone. So I can easily avoid experiencing racial discomfort. So we are not going to get where we need to go from a place of white comfort. The key is what we do with our discomfort. And we can certainly use it as a way out.”
 
On anti-blackness:
“So I want to be really clear – all peoples who are not perceived or defined as white, experience racism in this country and in any Western-oriented colonial settler environment. And they experience it in ways that are shared that they would relate to with one another. They also experience in ways that are very specific and particular to their group…and having said that, at this point in my work, I feel very clear about the following: there is something profoundly anti-black in this culture. And in the white mind, black people are the ultimate racial ‘other.’ There are two poles, white is on one end and black is on the other. And where you are positioned along that pole or continuum, that positioning shapes how you experience your racialization, and anti-blackness runs across that entire continuum. Even black people have received the messages of anti-blackness. Right? Sometimes this is called colorism. So the darker you are, the more compounded is the oppression.”
 
On the institution of racism:
“So, I’m going to give you just one glance at the trajectory of anti-blackness from the beginning of this country to the current time…It begins with kidnapping and 300 plus years of enslavement, torture, rape and brutality. And it carries on… you see bans on testifying against whites, which made it technically legal to murder black people in this country. And you are now in my lifetime… this has nothing to do with whether my ancestors owned enslaved Africans…we’re at employment discrimination. And now we’re at 2020 with copious empirical evidence…employment discrimination, educational discrimination, biased laws and policing, white flight, subprime mortgages, mass incarceration, school to prison pipeline, disproportionate special education, referrals and punishments, testing, tracking, school funding, biased media, voter suppression, cultural mockery, historical emissions, unaddressed trauma and so on. It is a system. It is the system we’re in. Nobody was, and nobody could be exempt from this system. And this system is not interrupted by smiling. The system is not interrupted by good intentions and friendliness. Only strategic, intentional antiracist action can interrupt the system. And African Americans are not, and have never been in a position to do this to the entire white collective. But the white collective has always been in a position to do this to the entire African American collective or black collective, and to benefit from the outcome of doing this. So there is no such thing as reverse racism. I do not use these terms interchangeably. I reserve the term racism to describe an action that is backed with this kind of institutional power in history.”
 
On racism as a worldview:
“So I’m going to be really blunt right now. As a result of being raised as a white person in this society, I have a racist worldview. There’s no way I could not have absorbed a racist worldview because it’s infused in everything. And as a result, I have developed racist frameworks of understanding and I have developed racist patterns of engagement. I also have investments in racism, because it’s comfortable, It has served me, it has absolutely helped me navigate the struggles I have faced – because I’m not saying white people don’t suffer or face struggles, but we don’t face that one, and not facing that one helps us navigate the ones we do face. So I am the least trustworthy to assess how well I’m doing given my investments in the status quo of racism. Now, I did not choose to be socialized that way. I would never have chosen to be socialized that way. But I wasn’t given a choice. So I sincerely do not struggle with guilt. And I’m not trying to invoke guilt. It’s a natural part of the process of coming to awareness about this as a white person, but we’ve got to move through it or it just functions to hold everything up…I don’t feel guilt about this, but I do feel something, and that is responsible. I feel responsible for the outcome of having been conditioned into racism that I have ownership of. And it’s actually incredibly liberating, transformative, to just start from the assumption that of course, you have internalized all of this, have patterns of engagements, have investments in the status quo of racism, and then you can just stop defending, deflecting, denying, and just get to work trying to figure out how that conditioning is manifesting in your life, work and relationships.”
 
On the feeling of hopelessness:
“Yes, I feel hopeless at times…it’s like it serves me as a white person to be hopeless. Because what do I want to do when I feel hopeless? Give up. And then great, the status quo continues on and I benefit from it. So I don’t get to go there. I have to push through that and keep struggling.”
 
On how to start addressing white privilege:
“What do I do? I have a response that is a challenge… If you’re white and that’s your question right now, my question back to you is, ‘How have you managed to be a fully functioning professional adult in some form of leadership and not know what to do about racism? How have you managed not to know when the information is everywhere, when they’ve been telling us forever, when anything I have the remotest interest in finding out more about, what would I do? Google it.’ I’m trying to challenge that this is some kind of neutral thing that we are innocent and we just don’t know. I actually think there’s a willful not knowing that it takes actual energy and navigation to push away. So that’s my challenge to that question, but it’s also sincere… If you’re white and just take out a piece of paper and start writing down why you don’t know what to do, you will actually have your map. Nothing on it will be quick or easy, but everything on that list you can address. Number one: I wasn’t educated on racism. Well, we know what to do there. Number two: I don’t talk about race with the white people in my life. Okay. Number three: I don’t talk about race with people of color in my life. Number four: I don’t have people of color in my life. Number five: I haven’t really cared enough to find out. Number six: I don’t want to feel guilty. Whatever is on your list. There it is. Get to work. You can do it.”
 
 
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SERIES
 
If you’re interested in purchasing Dr. Diangelo’s latest publication, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, you can use the below reading guide to support your book discussions with friends, family and colleagues.
 
EXPLORE DR. DIANGELO’S READING GUIDE
 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

 

READ THE RECAP FROM SESSION 1
 
CHECK OUT PHOTOS FROM SESSION 1
 
READ THE RECAP FROM SESSION 2
 

 

0 Comments/in HAND News /by H.A.N.D.

Howard University Opens COVID-19 Testing Clinic to Serve Diverse D.C. Communities

May 2, 2020
May 2, 2020

A new partnership with Bank of America enables Howard University to provide testing and health care to DC’s most vulnerable and under-served neighborhoods. An excerpt from the press release reads: 

Bank of America has awarded a $1M grant to the Howard University Faculty Practice Plan (HUFPP) to improve access to COVID-19 testing in the diverse Washington, D.C. communities located east of the river.

‘We’re excited to partner with Bank of America to get these critical resources to the areas that need them the most,” says Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick. “Many of our patients travel great distances to come to Howard University Hospital, which makes it challenging to seek medical attention at the first sign of illness. Our goal is to meet the community where they live so their access to care greatly improves and hopefully we can reduce the spread of the coronavirus significantly.’

Beginning on Tuesday, May 5, Howard University Faculty Practice Plan will host testing at the new Benning Road Center, located at 4414 Benning Road, N.E., Washington, D.C., Suite 2400. The free testing will be available on Tuesdays and Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the next three months. Residents can sign up by appointment by calling 202-865-2119, option 3. The team will see patients who are showing symptoms or who believe they are asymptomatic.

‘You will not need to have a doctor’s prescription in advance to get tested at our location,” says Dr. Hugh E. Mighty, Howard University vice president of clinical affairs. “We want to eliminate the obstacles so more people can be tested because we believe everyone should be tested. We want to screen our community neighbors in the areas where there are higher incidents of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes because those pre-existing conditions are linked to the higher incidents of coronavirus that we’ve seen in African American communities.’

As the need increases, the Howard team will look at expanding to include a mobile unit to provide testing options in a second area of the city. In addition to funding the tests and equipment, a portion of the grant will be used to enhance Howard University Hospital’s telehealth services. This will expand a doctor’s ability to see patients remotely and increase the patient’s access to care.

Read the full announcement here.

0 Comments/in HAND News, Member Events & Success Stories, Opportunities, Industry Highlights /by H.A.N.D.
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