Tackling the Root Causes of Homelessness with Susan Thomas
What can donors do to address the seemingly intractable problem of homelessness? Susan Thomas, president of the Melville Charitable Trust, joins Phil and Grace to discuss the systems and barriers in place in the U.S. that result in well over a half million unhoused Americans. Susan draws on her own personal and familial story as well as decades of experience, arguing that homelessness and structural racism are intrinsically linked, both historically and today.
Guest Info:
Susan K. Thomas is President of the Melville Charitable Trust where she oversees the Trust’s grantmaking strategy, philanthropic partnerships and administration. Formerly the Trust’s Program Director, Susan led the foundation’s housing and racial equity efforts for five years, while managing a state and national portfolio of grants supporting solutions to homelessness. Susan has been instrumental in the creation of Funders for Housing and Opportunity, a national non-partisan, cross-sector funder collaborative focused on tackling the housing affordability crisis by supporting advocacy, narrative change work, and efforts to scale effective practices at the intersection of housing, health, economic mobility, and education.
Credits:
Podcast Production: Rococo Punch
Music: APM Music
Artwork: Jay Kustka
Resources:
Melville Charitable Trust
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap by Mehrsa Baradaran
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
Listen to “Heather McGhee on the Zero Sum Lie” on the Giving Done Right podcast
CEP’s Grantee Perception Report and other assessments