Fair Housing Month Symposium: Building the Framework for a More Equitable Massachusetts

Every April, we take time to honor Fair Housing Month and recommit individually and collectively to the fair housing work still ahead. Join us on April 29th from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM as we reflect on the great achievements made over the last 53 years and look towards the work that is still needed to ensure fair housing and equal access to housing opportunities for all. 

During the symposium, we’ll ground ourselves in why we do this work before we discuss current fair housing efforts on the federal, state, and local levels that we can all mobilize around together.

Spanish translation will be available. Please contact Whitney Demetrius, Director of Fair Housing Engagement, with any questions about this event.

Resources

• Agenda, awardee bios, and panelist bios
• Meris Bergquist's presentation and fair housing resources
• David Harris's presentation
• CHAPA's Fair Housing Round-Up
• Video recordings from the event

Panel Discussion

The Why Before the How

• Andrew DeFranza, Executive Director, Harborlight Community Partners
• Bob Terrell, member of the CHAPA Fair Housing Committee
• Moderator: Whitney Demetrius, Director of Fair Housing Engagement, CHAPA

Fair Housing and Racial Justice at the Federal Level

• David Harris, Managing Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute of Race and Justice, Harvard University
• Tracy McCracken, Director of Fair Housing, National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)
• Dwaign Tyndal, Executive Director, Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE)
• Moderator: Ryan Dominguez, Policy Analyst, CHAPA

Closing the Black Homeownership Gap and Creating Generational Wealth

• Chrystal Kornegay, Executive Director, MassHousing
• Leslie Reid, Chief Executive Officer, Madison Park Development Corporation
• Elliot Schmiedl, Director of Homeownership, Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP)
• Henry Korman, General Counsel, 2Life Communities
• Moderator: James Jennings, Professor Emeritus, Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning at Tufts University

Award Honorees

• Lydia Edwards, Boston City Councilor, and members of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Community Advisory Committee (CAC)
• Authors of Qualified Renters Need Not Apply, accepted by William Berman, Clinical Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School, Housing Discrimination Testing Program (HDTP)
• Meris Bergquist, Executive Director, Massachusetts Fair Housing Center
• Symone Crawford, Director of Homeownership Education and Director of STASH, Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance
• Disability Policy Consortium, accepted by Colin Killick, Executive Director