Action in housing and community development

Long Island is among the ten most racially segregated metropolitan regions in the county due, in large part, to housing discrimination. Effective, local fair housing laws and nondiscriminatory affordable housing policies, combined with vigilant fair housing enforcement and aggressive affirmative actions to further fair housing can help ensure that all people have equal access to housing and none are kept out of communities by discriminatory practices and policies.

ERASE Racism's accomplishments in addressing housing discrimination include:

• ERASE Racism submitted a civil rights complaint to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) alleging that Nassau County discriminates against African-Americans and perpetuates racial segregation in the administration of its housing and community development programs.
• In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, ERASE Racism began to take action to ensure that federal relief funding is utilized promptly in a nondiscriminatory manner.
• ERASE Racism and other nonprofit organizations spearheaded a successful campaign to pass a bill in Suffolk County that protects renters from discrimination based on the legal source of income utilized to pay for housing.
• ERASE Racism has conducted testing for housing discrimination and has successfully settled cases in which the owners or landlords were found to be discriminating against prospective African American renters.
• ERASE Racism has produced detailed research reports that demonstrate rampant racial discrimination throughout Long Island.

Action in creating education equity

The Education Equity Initiative identifies unequal access to quality public schools and works to increase opportunities for black and Latino students to receive a high quality education and for all students to learn in racially diverse schools and classrooms.

Accomplishments in advancing the goal of education equity include:

• ERASE Racism produced a documentary, A TALE OF TWO SCHOOLS: Race and Education on Long Island, which has already been seen by thousands of people.
• ERASE Racism has produced various reports, maps, graphs and other resources that show the link between racial segregation and educational inequities.
• ERASE Racism has created an Education Equity Working Group to identify and advocate for strategies to create racially integrated schools and classrooms.

Action in educating the public

ERASE Racism has utilized an innovative outreach program to reveal how racial disparities continue to deeply affect people of color and the region as a whole. Its Race and Racism Dialogues have created an environment where talking about racism is no longer taboo and myths can be dispelled. ERASE Racism has established itself as an expert on issues related to structural racism on Long Island and elsewhere, which is evidenced by numerous speaking engagements and interviews.

ERASE Racism's accomplishments in raising awareness about structural racism include:

• ERASE Racism has educated hundreds of students through its Student Leadership Program, which is a series of workshops that teach students about the history of race in the U.S., the ways that structural racism still affects us today, and what students can do to make a difference in their communities.
• ERASE Racism has held several Annual Youth Roundtable Events, which are special opportunities for Long Island students to learn from modern-day civil rights champions and leaders who are making a difference in the fight for racial equity.
• ERASE Racism has held dozens of diversity trainings for adults. These trainings provide a context, framework, and language for understanding the realities of racism and how individuals can work to dismantle racism in their personal and professional lives.