A Two-day innovative program for lawyers, advocates, students, real estate professionals, and the community to learn about their civil rights
September 22-23, 2006
Sponsored by the Clinical Law Center and the Fair Housing Clinic at the Howard University School of Law
Program Schedule
(All panels will be held in the Moot Court Room in Houston Hall)
Friday September 22, 2006
9:00 a.m.
Refreshments: Continental Breakfast
Community Civil Rights Empowerment Fair (all-day)
9:30-10:00 a.m.
Welcome Address:
Dean Kurt Schmoke, Dean, Howard University School of Law, Associate Dean Okianer Dark, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Howard University School of Law, Professor Tamar Meekins, Director, Clinical Law Center, Howard University School of Law.
10:00-11:00 a.m.
Book Talk & Signing
(Moot Court)
40 Years after the Open Housing Movement: Gautreaux, Dr. King, Chicago and Beyond
Introduction of Speaker: Derek Black
Speaker: Alexander Polikoff, Esquire Director, Public Housing Transformation Initiative & author of Waiting for Gautreaux.
Alexander Polikoff, lead counsel in Hills v. Gautreaux, one of the most important fair housing cases in the public housing sector, will discuss "Waiting for Gautreaux" in the context of the 40th anniversary of the commencement of the modern fair housing movement. Mr. Polikoff is currently the director of the Public Housing Transformation Initiative and senior staff counsel for the Business and Professional People's Public Interest Initiative.
Polikoff Biography
Beyond Ghetto Gilding
Cite 4000 and Robert Taylor
Polikoff Combats "Residential Apartheid" With Gautreaux, Sacrifices Inner City Shelter Needs For Open Housing Goal
The New Underground Railroad
11:30-12:30 p.m.
Panel #1: (Moot Court)
Environmental Justice & Housing: Are Minorities more likely to Live in Environmentally Unsafe Areas?
Moderator: Speakers: Vernice Miller-Travis: Executive Director, Groundworks Daria Neal: Staff Attorney in the Environmental Justice Project at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law in Washington, D.C.
This session will focus on current and past situations where communities with lower income and high minority populations have been subject to environmentally discriminatory housing conditions. This panel will discuss housing rights and what you can do if you feel you have been negatively affected.
Miller-Travis Biography
Neal Biography
Broussard Biography
12:30- 2:00 p.m. LUNCH (Dining Hall)
1:30 p.m. (Dining Hall)
After Lunch Break & Presentation of Writing Contest Winners
This session will introduce the winners of The 2006 Law for the People Scholarship and Writing Contest. The winners will be announced during the luncheon program. High School contestants submitted essays on the topic "What are the major civil rights challenges facing young people today?"
View Picture Gallery of Award Winners
2:15-3:45 pm
Mini-panel #3
Equal Housing and Equal Justice Issues After Hurricane Katrina: What Is to Be Done? Moderator: Jeremy Broussard
Speakers: Terrell Broussard, Esq., Partner, Montgomery Barnett, New Orleans, LA Martha Bergmark, Executive Director, Mississippi Center for Justice, Gulfport, MS
A discussion on housing and equal justice issues facing the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the role of the Howard University School of Law in recovery efforts.
Bergmark Biography
Payday Lending- Mississippi's Newest Growth Industry
Mississippi Center for Justice
Film Screening
Katrina: A Break in the Storm
Howard University students and faculty discuss their spring break experience in New Orleans helping to cleanup and rebuild the storm-ravaged city. See footage of the city and hear the survivors talk of their desire and determination to rebuild. The film was produced by Brian Platt in association with Howard University Television.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Community Day
9:30 am
Refreshments: Continental Breakfast Community Empowerment Fair (all-day)
10:00 -- 10:30 am
Fair Housing, Equality and Enforcement in the 21st Century Introduction of Speaker: Brian Gilmore, Esquire, Clinical Supervising Attorney/Adjunct Professor, Fair Housing Clinic
Speaker: Bryan Greene, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Programs, HUD.
Bryan Greene, the current Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will speak on the state of fair housing nationally and recent efforts by HUD to combat discrimination in housing and to promote fair housing. Deputy Assistant Secretary Greene has devoted his lengthy professional legal career to fighting against housing discrimination. In his present position, he oversees HUD fair housing enforcement activities and is responsible for HUD fair housing assistance and initiatives programs, which provide funding to state, local and community organizations.
11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Housing Panel Discussion Housing Justice Locally: Modern Developments
Three of the area's more knowledgeable housing specialists discuss the state of housing on the local level on a variety of different, but relevant topics, including discrimination, gentrification, real estate scams, and affordability.
Moderator: Masai McDougall -- Class of 2008, Howard University School of Law
Panelists: Akita Smith, Fair Housing Section D.C. Office of Human Rights
Mary Douglas Housing Counseling Services
Sonia Guiterrez Fair Housing Programs D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development
1:00 p.m.
Lunch & Dismissal