Bob Adams Racial Equity Fund - HousingForward Virginia

Thank you!

Thanks to Atlantic Union Bank and everyone who donated to the Robert J. Adams Fund for Racially Equitable Housing. We raised over $30,000 to fund our work around racial equity, easily surpassing our $25,000 goal. To stay up to date on how we are using this resource, subscribe to our mailing list.

GOAL: $25,000

Raised: $32,420

HousingForward Virginia launched the Robert J. Adams Fund for Racially Equitable Housing to honor our long-time executive director who retired after an impressive and incomparable career in affordable housing.

This fund will be an important resource for HousingForward as we look to expand and strengthen our efforts to advance better housing opportunities for Black and brown Virginians. Despite a brighter spotlight in recent years, decades of intentional discrimination still mean that Black Virginians own their homes at historically low rates, spend much higher shares of their income on rent, and face eviction much more often. This unjust reality requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to remedy.

For our part, we will do what we do best: use data to tell stories, convene thought-provoking conversations, and promote meaningful solutions. Our plans include:

Building new data portals on our website to clearly enumerate and contextualize the disparities in wealth, income, ownership, health, and education faced by Virginians of color.
Narrating the discriminatory policies, actions, and attitudes from the last century using maps, testimonies, and other evidence to show how we got to where we are.
Curating and promoting a library of best practice solutions to help communities advance equity through housing.
Launching a multimedia communications campaign to educate leaders, policy makers, housing providers, and advocates about these ways to make progress.

As always, our goal is to help housing practitioners and advocates across the Commonwealth do their best to advance racial equity in housing.

Atlantic Union Bank pledged a generous leadership gift to kick off this fund. By following their lead, our supporters not only paid homage to Bob’s leadership and dedication, but have also paved the way for a better, stronger Virginia.