OHCS Director Bell Introduces New U.S. Department of the Treasury’s First Racial Equity Counselor at National Convening

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Housing and Community Services Director Andrea Bell introduced the keynote speaker at the National Council for State Housing Finance Agencies (NCSHA) convening. Janis Bowdler spent the last two decades advancing economic equity solutions for communities of color and was recently appointed as Counselor to the Secretary, a newly created position at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Ms. Bowdler will be charged with coordinating the Treasury’s efforts to advance racial equity.

NCSHA convened its second national symposium titled “Toward a Racially Just Housing System.” The first symposium was held in 2021. This symposium brings forward research and ideas including public policy, business practices and community partnerships towards the creation of a more just housing system.

“Today, we are embracing the full social context of what housing is and what it can be,” said OHCS Director Andrea Bell. “This is about our collective humanity. Sustainable progress is possible when all of us work together toward the same goals and outcomes. People are depending on us to do the right thing. The systems we want are not automatic or a given. We must work at it, care for it, and be accountable— exactly what Janis Bowdler has been doing for the last two decades in her pursuit of solutions that matter most to the people we serve.

“Growing up in Northeast Ohio, Janis saw firsthand how neighborhood conditions impacted the life opportunities of her family and neighbors, often resulting in an uneven playing field that has left communities of color and our most vulnerable communities at a stark disadvantage. Drawing on her lived experience and two decades of working in coalition with Black, Latinx, and AAPI communities, Janis has dedicated her career to dismantling the structural and institutional racism that has allowed the racial wealth gap to persist and widen.”