• Description

Housing insecurity is a challenge affecting the lives of far too many in the United States. After decades of work in the housing sector, we formalized the Just Cities and Regions (JCR) program in 2015 amidst a moment of growing racial and income inequality, increasing housing insecurity, and an accelerating climate crisis with disparate impacts. The strategy shifted from one based in 10 metro regions to one that aimed to bring about more systemic change across the country.

JCR worked to integrate distinct dimensions necessary to winning change at scale by:

  • Building community- and people-centered grassroots power through integrated civic engagement strategies
  • Grounding those strategies in the leadership and vision of communities disproportionately impacted, anchored by an ecosystem of strong, networked social movement infrastructure
  • Focusing on creating systems-level interventions rather than public policy reform or near-term "fixes"
  • Supporting relationship-based and long-term co-governance by communities and those in public leadership roles

We sunset the JCR program at the end of 2021. In this reflection, we share our lessons throughout our history of investment.