ABOUT CHHI™

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Our mission is to prepare Black and other youth for economic independence by focusing on: self-esteem, health, goal-setting, academic achievement, study skills, diploma and degree completion, work skills, business opportunities, service to others, and citizenship.



The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute™ was established in 2001 as an outgrowth of a book, Saving Black America: An Economic Plan for Civil Rights, by CHHI™ President, Dr. John Odom. CHHI™ serves the Black community and strengthens the entire community through a variety of social, educational and economic outreach programs.

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​Our Madison, Wisconsin home is the first of what will one day be a nationwide network of Black Investment Boards and centers for community change where Black business leaders work together to guide major economic initiatives. Separately, these boards will have the power to help the poor and opportunity youth in their own neighborhoods; together, they will offer new hope, new freedom and new financial stability to a nation of Black Americans.

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As Charles Hamilton Houston sought equality through the workings of justice, CHHI™ pursues equity through the promise of economic independence. Like Professor Houston, WE WILL SUCCEED!

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BOARD MEMBERS



Walter Williams • President

John Odom, Ph.D. • President

Saundra Brown

Rev. David Hart, Esq.

Greg Jones

Kirbie L. Mack

Gynarva Van Monroe • Secretary

Nikkie Odom

Camara Stovall

Wayne Strong

Anthony Timmons, MBA • Treasurer

Kalyanna 'Yanna' Williams

“The problem before the Negro today is not the depths from which he has come but the heights to which he aspires.”


-Charles Hamilton Houston

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"Charles Houston was the Moses who led us through the wilderness of second-class citizenship toward the perceived promised land of legal equality."

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-Judge William Hastie

His Legacy

Harvard Law Review's First Black Editor

Dean of Howard University's Law School

First Black Lawyer to Argue Before The U.S. Supreme Court

Leading Architect of the American Civil Rights Movement

First General Counsel of the NAACP

Mastermind Behind the Legal Civil Rights Strategy