Habitat for Humanity has a vision of a world where we share one humanity, and that’s a world that we believe in and fight for every day.

We are a faith-based organization, but we realize that faith must be coupled with works and action. As we share in the sadness, anger and uncertainty that have rocked communities across the United States — these protests of the systemic and racial injustice that have infused and informed the life of our nation — we recognize that we must do more.

We must create what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called “the Beloved Community” — a community that includes diversity and allows for tension undergirded by love and leading to transformation. To do so, we must truly love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We must change. And we must commit to tangible action.

We will do the work in our practices, our programs and our networks that brings equity to our efforts and helps bring justice to the communities in which we work. We will, throughout our ministry, connect issues of racial and social injustice with historic barriers to affordable housing and work to eradicate those barriers.

Historic discrimination in U.S. housing policy — particularly discrimination against Black Americans — is one of the chief drivers of racial inequities that persist today. Organizations like ours that work on housing must understand that history and have it inform our work.

In the tradition of the radical inclusivity that infused our birthplace Koinonia Farm from its earliest days, the leaders of our ministry commit to creating an environment where humility, open communication, dialogue and listening become our standard. In addition to being a space where people of all races, all faiths and all backgrounds come together in common cause, we commit to being actively anti-racist and to affirming, through word and action, that black lives matter and that our communities and systems must further this fundamental truth. We will ensure that our work is infused with courage and accountability so that we make our strong commitment to equity and true community a reality.