For more than 40 years, the affiliates of NeighborWorks® Community Partners have been providing housing and community development programs for low- to moderate-income people and their families.
We have come together across Western NY to be a catalyst for building and strengthening communities, and we will not stay silent about the mass demonstrations happening around us to draw attention to the systemic racism that affects our neighbors every day.
We stand by the Black community and know that change doesn’t happen through words alone. We recognize the challenges in our own daily practices and are committed to doing the work to better the organization. This means taking a hard look at the lack of diversity on our own board, staff and leadership teams, and working with the appropriate consultants to create and implement an organization-wide diversity plan.
We urge our white neighbors to become educated about the history of redlining and the impact it has had on Black people and people of color (POC) when trying to purchase homes (and the divide it has created, which is still felt today).
Watch documentaries. Listen to podcasts. Read articles and books. When someone tells a racist joke, call them out. Have honest conversations with the people around you about race and racism, what you are doing to contribute to it, and what you can do to change your own actions.
Neighborhoods work when neighbors work together.
Change starts with us.
