At Funders Together for Housing Justice, we know that advancing housing justice requires both courage and clarity. We are living in a political moment where attacks on racial justice, equity, and democracy are constant—and where philanthropy must decide not only what to fund, but also what to fight. 

That’s why we’ve embraced the Block & Build framework, first shared in Convergence Magazine as an advocacy and grantmaking strategy  The framework challenges us to block harmful systems, narratives, and policies that perpetuate injustices, while simultaneously building new structures, practices, and pathways toward liberation, justice, and thriving communities. 

Why Block and Build?

This framework resonates deeply with our mission because philanthropy must do the both/and of investing in “building” solutions, while being honest and realistic about the urgent need to interrupt harm. Housing justice is about creating new models of community ownership, affordability, and equity. At the same time, it’s also about dismantling the harmful narratives, practices, and policies that criminalize people experiencing homelessness, uphold racial segregation, and undermine multiracial democracy.

Introducing Block and Build to the Philanthropic Sector

We unveiled this framework during our 2025 Funders Institute, where members reflected on how philanthropy can wield its power to both defend and create. Together, we explored how funders can:

  • Block: harmful criminalization efforts, disinvestment in communities of color, austerity narratives, and policy proposals that deepen inequity.
  • Build: community power, racial justice, new models of housing and land stewardship, and narratives that affirm housing as a human right.

Our reflections from the Institute capture how this dual strategy is not only about resisting what harms us, but also about resourcing what sustains us.

Putting This Framework Into Practice

To support our members and partners in turning reflection into action, we created a Block & Build Action Planning Template. This tool helps funders, staff, and grantee partners identify specific practices, policies, and narratives they can block and new practices and investments they can build across immediate, intermediate, and long-term timeframes.

The template invites us to ask ourselves:

  • What harmful narratives or practices must we block in the next 3 months?
  • What long-term commitments must we make to build new systems rooted in justice and belonging?
  • How do we hold ourselves accountable for acting across all three spheres: our self, our teams, and our grantee partners?

Read the full article about the Block and Build framework by Rachelle A. Matthews at Funders Together for Housing Justice.