It has been four years since MACDC launched the Racial Equity Pledge, and we would like to reflect on the impact it has had on our partner CDCs across the state. To do this, we met with a few representatives from our partner CDCs to ask them how adopting the pledge has affected their work.

Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (CSNDC) is “a grassroots community organization committed to developing affordable housing and fighting for racial and economic justice by building community power, especially of low and moderate-income communities of color in Dorchester. Through developing resident leadership, organizing in the community, promoting economic mobility services, and advocating for local environmental justice, [they] build collective resident power to effect systemic change and transform society.”

CSNDC has started explicitly incorporating racial equity into their work since adding a section to their 2016 strategic plan. When we approached them with our Racial Equity Pledge a few years later, they were eager to sign onto it. CSNDC adopted the Pledge because “it was aligned with our racial equity work already” according to Executive Director Gail Latimore. She explains how CSNDC was

pleased when [the Pledge] was first being discussed, since it [was] birthed out of the organizers of the CDCs putting their thoughts together. It was during the time of the George Floyd tragedy, and we really felt it was important to sign on for all those reasons. And we already were very steeped in racial equity… before that.

CSNDC’s goals for racial equity work range from providing learning opportunities for staff and board, to making changes to their hiring practices and business relationships. One of their most prominent programs is their Anti-Racism/Equity Army Academy, which was launched in 2022. The Academy is a series of four two- and a-half-hour classes over about a month. According to Gail, about 100 participants have completed these courses and “graduated” from the Academy.

Our Pledge has also inspired CSNDC to revise some of their hiring practices. They have started posting salaries for their open jobs and making degree requirements for some open positions “a little bit more flexible as a result of the MACDC racial equity pledge.” Not only that, but they have also raised salaries for their employees. Gail explains that “at this point in time, nobody in the agency earns under $63,000 or so a year, whereas before that we had some positions that were in the 40s and 50s.” Additionally, CSNDC is taking a step back and being more intentional about what kinds of companies they are doing business with and procuring products and services from for their projects. Gail said that she and her team have been focused on working with real estate, IT, and printing companies who reflect their target “community in terms of their racial equity [and] ethnic composition.”

Looking forward, CSNDC plans to expand their Anti-Racism/Equity Army Academy to continue their racial equity work now that it is “truly starting to take form. We're trying to add more classes to this academy to [provide] different informational modules that people can take.” To begin this expansion, CSNDC recently offered “Coming to Terms With Race,” a fundamental introductory class offered by the Academy to their board. Gail partially credits CSNDC’s establishment of the Academy to our Pledge, “but also to just the work that we've been doing for a while, trying to develop a body of work… We're still learning.”