Jeff Olivet
NOTE: Jeff has stepped down from Racial Equity Partners work to serve as Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
Jeff is a co-founder of Racial Equity Partners and founder of jo consulting. He has worked in in the non-profit and for-profit sectors—including a focus on homelessness, racial justice, affordable housing, public health, HIV, and behavioral health care—for more than 25 years. A former outreach worker, case manager, and coalition builder, Jeff helped launch the Boston-based Center for Social Innovation (now C4 Innovations) in 2006 and was the company’s Chief Executive Officer from 2010 to 2018. In this role, Jeff led national efforts to disseminate and implement best practices across homelessness and housing programs, health care, behavioral health systems, and other agencies. At C4, Jeff was Director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) national Homelessness Resource Center, and he was central to SAMHSA’s work to integrate peers in mental health and substance use programs. He has also been Principal Investigator on multiple studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health which have examined best practices in online learning and dissemination.
Beginning in 2016, Jeff designed, launched, and served as Principal Investigator for the SPARC Initiative (Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities), a multi-city effort to address structural racism and homelessness. He is lead author on multiple SPARC publications. As a consultant, he has worked with numerous agencies across the United States and internationally and is a recognized leader on racial equity and homelessness. Jeff’s podcasts and blogs reach tens of thousands of people each year.
Jeff is deeply committed to racial equity, social justice, and housing for all people. He holds a B.A. from the University of Alabama and an M.A. from Boston College, and he divides his time between Cambridge, MA and Washington, DC.