Chapin Hall

For nearly 40 years, Chapin Hall has been fulfilling a unique mission to develop and apply evidence that will improve the lives of children, families, and their communities. In that work, we have documented persistent racial inequities and provided evidence to point policymakers and practitioners to. As racially biased practices and policies have persisted and continue to cause trauma in communities of color, Chapin Hall has intensified its commitment to racial equity.

At the same time, as an applied research and policy center, we acknowledge the complicity of research in creating the inequities that exist today, and the role we need to play to address these inequities.

Under the leadership of Executive Director Bryan Samuels, Chapin Hall has expanded its portfolio of work focused on racial equity and developed Racial Equity Principles to clarify practices consistent with an anti-racist organization. Those principles, and the work that illustrates them, are below.

We are committed to shaping a just and equitable society, promoting personal growth among our staff, and working toward policy changes that protect and promote the interests of people of color.

Bryan Samuels

Principle of Accountability

We are ACCOUNTABLE to each other and to those with whom we work. Together, we work toward a shared understanding of our commitment and ensure anti-racist values are reflected in internal organizational policies, practices, and initiatives and in our external partnerships.

Examples of this work in action include:

External

• In publicly posting these principles, we invite those with whom we partner to join us on this journey, collaborate with us to develop shared understanding of what it means to act as anti-racist organizations, and continually challenge us and hold us accountable.
• As we proceed, we will share and apply these principles in proposals including in kick-off and progress meetings, program design, and how we analyze and share findings and recommendations.

Internal

• Our Racial Equity Principles are implemented by a racially diverse and cross-organizational team charged with integrating the principles across administrative departments, committees, organizational initiatives, and leadership structures.
• The Ad Hoc Committee on Equity in Chapin Hall Policies, established in January 2020, is a racially diverse and broadly representative staff group charged with holding the organization accountable through its reviewing, proposing, and advancing policies.

Principle of Transparency

We are TRANSPARENT in our efforts to advance, monitor, and share both internally and externally our progress toward inclusive conditions and equitable outcomes for a racially diverse workforce.

Examples of this work in action include:

External

• In publicly posting the metrics below on racial diversity at Chapin Hall, we invite racially diverse leaders and candidates to challenge our progress and, as possible, join us on our journey. Open positions at Chapin Hall are posted on our careers page.

• Chapin Hall invests in developing and testing innovative tools for partners to use to assess bias and inequity, such as the Racial Bias Assessment Tool, which allows researchers to assess survey data for racial bias.

Internal

• Because it matters who establishes the research questions, how they collect the data, and what life experiences and perspectives they bring to frame the results, we are working to purposefully attract racially diverse experts at all levels of our workforce, including people with lived experience.
• Purposeful recruitment efforts and internal posting of metrics on racial diversity are supplemented by ongoing discussions at all staff levels about how to attract and retain a more racially diverse workforce.

Principle of Active Respect & Awareness

We establish and maintain an organizational CULTURE OF ACTIVE RESPECT and AWARENESS through asking questions, naming, and confronting issues of racial inequity—both within our organization and with our partners—with the objective of promoting and sustaining anti-racist practices and conditions.

Examples of this work in action include:

External

• Chapin Hall is committed to efforts that bring solutions designed by those with lived expertise into our work with partners. System Transformation Through Community Leadership learned from past efforts and puts forward an evidence-based framework to better build and embed Black and Brown community leadership.

• Chapin Hall invested in Elevating Culturally Specific Evidence-based Practices, providing an overview of 10 culturally specific and two culturally responsive programs designed by tribal communities and communities of color and calling for the need for more work in this area.
• Our Blueprint for Transformation, Kinship Navigation, and Trust Youth Initiative, among other projects, demonstrate our commitment to ensuring those with lived experience guide and influence our work—from research design and evaluation to informing systemic improvement.

Internal

• Chapin Hall has more than 20 committees and affinity groups where staff from across the organization provide input, build community, get support—and challenge. Through this structure, racial equity work is being embedded throughout the organization.
• For instance, our Culture and Climate Committee promotes an inclusive, engaging, and safe learning environment for staff and guides our response to current issues that threaten the safety and well-being of children and families.
• The Habitat Committee’s mission is to improve the well-being of all staff through social, volunteer, and wellness opportunities.

Principle of Continuous Progress

We are committed to personal and collective CONTINUOUS PROGRESS. We recognize that commitment to unlearning white supremacy is personal work, and that continuous learning and awareness as it relates to systems of oppression is our individual and collective responsibility. We translate our individual work to put into organizational action to be an anti-racist organization.

Some examples of this work in action include:

External

• Chapin Hall strives to continually center racial equity in our work, including in ending youth homelessness: Centering Racial Equity in Youth Homelessness.
• In child welfare, we created two robust equity-related resources: Advancing Equity through Research and Evaluation: A Guide for Child Welfare Leaders and Decision Makers and Applying Race Equity Strategies throughout the Continuous Quality Improvement Process.

Internal

• In January 2022, Chapin Hall welcomed its first three Equity First Fellows. These racially diverse fellows have expertise in racial inequity, child well-being, public systems transformation, and community change. Through this effort, we are working to build in the perspectives of those whose life experiences directly or more closely match those whose lives we seek to support. Their work on promising policies, interventions and systems change is part of our journey. 
• Since 2020, Chapin Hall explicitly directs $100,000 in annual “Impact Area Funds” toward internal innovation grants to drive public systems toward racial equity. Our large body of work on economic and concrete supports, which includes the key role that economic conditions play in racial disproportionality in child welfare, was started through this fund. A currently funded project involves a review of literature on evidence-based interventions that are most effective with Black boys and young men.  

Chapin Hall is committed to shaping an equitable society and working toward policy changes that protect and promote the interests of people of color. These principles provide a framework for our efforts. Learn more about Chapin Hall.