Race and Social Justice Statement

Homeward House Collaborative (HHC) is committed to advancing racial equity and social justice in all aspects of our work. We are focused on preventing the harms of family separation, disproportionately affecting generations of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

We recognize the history of systemic racism contributing to disproportionate poverty, housing insecurity, health disparities, and child welfare system involvement that BIPOC families continue to endure. BIPOC who are parenting or expecting also face additional trauma, discrimination, stigma, and costs to their families.

Within systems of oppression, everyone suffers. Therefore, we must work together toward collective liberation and the kind of world we know is possible.

Our commitment:

Homeward House Collaborative is committed to building a community where all families affected by substance use disorders have equitable access to services where they feel seen, heard, represented, and valued. We strive to provide services that reflect the diverse identities and values of BIPOC families. We commit to shifting power through opportunities for leadership, collaboration, and employment to BIPOC with first-hand experience of the practices and systems we seek to change. We know that they are closest to the solutions.

Our collaborative work seeks to address the disproportionalities affecting BIPOC families. We expect all those involved with HHC to be committed to advancing race and social justice and to hold us and each other accountable. We pledge to hold ourselves accountable by regularly assessing how well we are centering BIPOC stakeholders and collaborating to affect systems change.

How we live it:

We are taking the following actions to live up to our commitments:

• Create an environment where participants, staff, and partners feel empowered to speak out on all forms of injustice and build our capacity to respond and advance solutions.
• Provide Race and Social Justice (RSJ) onboarding training and ongoing learning opportunities for staff, volunteers, partners, and community members.
• Recognize and promote the many contributions of the BIPOC community and allies in our county and nationally.
• Integrate expertise on race-based trauma and practices that support clients, partners, and staff in healing.
• Assess and co-create improvements to our policies, practices, programs, network, and culture through our Equity Workgroup, Steering Committee, Parent Voice Committee, and community engagement.
• Design programs and services to be accessible and inclusive of diverse languages, abilities, races, ethnicities, cultures, statuses, ages, gender identities, orientations, family structures, and needs.
• Develop processes for documenting and responding to injustices experienced or identified by participants, staff, and partners.
• Advocate for policies and practices that support BIPOC families and fight against those that disproportionately harm them, including organizational, community, and systemic advocacy.
• Evaluate — quantitatively and qualitatively — how we are moving toward racial equity and social justice, disaggregating data by demographics.
• Build equitable practices and pathways to increase the employment of BIPOC and underrepresented populations. This includes equitable recruitment, hiring, and professional development opportunities.
  Partner with organizations led by and for BIPOC and other marginalized communities to support our shared goals.
• Make policy and practice changes to support individual and collective care across agencies (i.e., health & wellness, income, relationships).
  Keep discussions of race and social justice alive in our work by sharing and documenting challenges and progress.

By taking these steps, HHC is working toward collective liberation and a future where all families have the support and opportunities they need to thrive. This statement will inform our efforts and evolve as we work toward a more just society for this and future generations.