Racial Equity Workplan Update

APAH Board and Staff have committed to the following Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Goals:

  1. Create a comprehensive and authentic commitment to promote racial justice through APAH’s work.
  2. Embed inclusion into the APAH culture.
  3. Create measurable opportunities to improve the lives of Black, Indigenous and People of Color among our staff, residents, business partners and communities.

We have established Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) committees at the staff and board level, in an effort to create and execute on a robust REDI workplan. Our actions so far have included the following:

  • Actively recruiting a more diverse board and staff, including the promotion of Carmen Romero, our new CEO, who brings her lived experience as a Latina from an immigrant family.
  • Seeking and supporting partners and vendors led by Persons of Color and organizations dedicated to racial justice.
  • Piloting new tools to market our affordable housing in high opportunity neighborhoods to descendants of enslaved people.
  • Deepening our data tools to disaggregate outcomes for our residents by race and ethnicity.
  • Working towards ensuring that all staff who work at APAH properties directly or through contractors, are paid a living wage.
  • Leading the Arlington Community Progress Network, where APAH and our partners gather and study data on disparate outcomes, create new ways for underserved voices to be heard (including Get Out the Vote, Census outreach, community roundtables) and advocate for systems change that promotes racial equity.
  • Promoting a culture of ongoing learning and discernment about racial justice to inform all of our work. All APAH staff and board members attended a 5-hour facilitated, interactive workshop about the complexities and impact of structural racism and implicit bias to establish a baseline framework and understanding within our organization.