Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Agreement

If you are awarded funding or have received funding from OHCS in the past, you will be required to register a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Agreement. This survey will direct you to submit an Initial Registration or a Renewal Registration, and it will allow you to select your DEI goals and report progress on them. You will be sent a Renewal Registration survey link annually.

The DEI Agreement is based on the Global Diversity Equity & Inclusion Benchmarks (GDEIB). While this DEI Agreement is based on the GDEIB, the goals in this agreement easily translate to many other DEI strategies. Completing this agreement does not require you to use the GDEIB, but if you would like to use it, you can download a copy from OHCS' DEI Agreement webpage.


The following definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion are adapted from the GDEIB:

Diversity refers to the variety of similarities and differences among people, including but not limited to: race, ethnicity, national origin, native or indigenous identity, culture, language and accent, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, health status, religion, family status, socioeconomic status/caste, appearance, education, and lived experience.

Equity refers to fair and just outcomes achieved by recognizing that people and communities have different needs based on historical and systemic inequities, and taking deliberate actions to remove barriers for individuals and groups, such as policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages.

Inclusion refers to a dynamic state of feeling, belonging, and operating within a fair and high-performing organization where individuals and groups feel safe, respected, heard, engaged, motivated, and valued for who they are.





Organization Type
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Which option below best describes your organization?

Culturally Responsive Organization (CRO): an entity that comprehensively addresses power relationships throughout the organization, from the types of services it provides and how it maximizes language accessibility to its human resources practices-who it hires, how they are skilled, prepared and held accountable, to its cultural norms, its governance structures and policies, and its track record in addressing conflicts and dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, to its relationships with racial groups in the region, including its responsiveness to expectations. Furthermore, a Culturally Responsive Organization is one that is dynamic, on a committed path to improvement and one that is hardwired to be responsive to the interests of Communities of Color. Culturally responsive organizations hire and train culturally and linguistically diverse staff to meet the needs of the diverse communities they serve.

Culturally Specific Organization (CSO): An entity that provides services to a cultural community and the entity has the following characteristics:
 • Majority of members and/or clients must be from a particular cultural community that has faced housing discrimination;
• Organizational environment is culturally focused, and the cultural community being served recognizes it as a culturally-specific entity that provides culturally and linguistically responsive services;
• Majority of staff must be from the cultural community being served, and the majority of the leadership (defined to collectively include board members and management positions) must be from the cultural community being served;
• The entity has a track record of successful community engagement and involvement with the cultural community being served, rooted on a foundation of respect and trust; and
• The organization engages in advocacy for housing and/or economic justice for the cultural community with their guidance.