Dear Center for Housing and Health Community Partners – Following one of the most traumatic weeks in our country’s recent history, it cannot be said loud enough or often enough: BLACK LIVES MATTER. Black community leaders are saying that we are facing two pandemics simultaneously – COVID-19 and 1619. 1619 is the year that the first African slaves were ripped from their homeland and brought to what is now the United States. The ever-present legacy of 400 years of systemic racism and legally sanctioned domestic terrorism rears its head yet again following the horrific murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade and all in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center for Housing and Health (CHH) stands with our Black leaders, colleagues and communities that have been protesting and calling for an end to the racist systems that sanction state violence. This violence takes many forms: it may be in the form of killing a Black person in broad daylight while people look on, the militarization of schools and streets across the country, or the casual disregard for the lives of thousands of Black people who sleep each night on the street. As a white man leading an organization dedicated to ensuring everyone has a home, I understand that my privilege demands I redouble my own efforts on the journey of being anti-racist. As the white father of 3 Black and multiracial children, I recognize my powerlessness to protect them in the way I need to in America today. For the world to look the way it should for those CHH serves, and for the world to keep my children safe as they grow up, I must seize the anger and grief I feel today and follow the lead of my Black partners, who continue working to tear down the structures of racism built over the last 400 years. I look forward to working with you on this journey. Humbly, Peter Toepfer Executive Director