HUD Fair Housing Month Proclamation

April is National Fair Housing Month!

This year, we commemorate the 55th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act, the landmark civil rights law signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1968, that made discrimination in housing transactions unlawful. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing because of race, color national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, and familial status. For more information about your fair housing rights, visit FHEO's website.

 

Celebrate With Us: 

Fair Housing Month Events

 

Fair Housing Month 2023 Opening Ceremony

FHEO hosted the Fair Housing Month Opening Ceremony on April 11.

Watch the recording (coming soon)

Fair Housing Month 2023 National Event

Register to watch the National Event, Building an Equitable Future: A Housing Policy Conversation with Gen Z College Students, on Wednesday, April 26 at 2:00 p.m. EDT

Register for the Event (free) >

Watch the Event on April 26 >

Fair Housing Poster and Virtual Backgrounds

For more Fair Housing Month resources, visit FHEO’s Outreach Tools Page.

Download the Poster >

Download Virtual Backgrounds >

 

Opening Ceremony Features

 

Marcia L. Fudge, HUD Secretary

Demetria L. McCain, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity

Lee Porter, Executive Director, The Fair Housing Council of Northern New Jersey

Texas Southern University Debate Team

 

April 28th Bazelon Center Zoom Event 

Bazelon Center Zoom Event on April 28th

Zoom Registration Link

Advancing an Alternative: Peer-led, Community-Based Services that Promote Equity and Safety for All

April 28, 2023, 1:00-2:30 PM ET

Zoom Registration Link

Description:

This webinar is part 2 of a 2-webinar Learning Community hosted by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) that addresses SAMHSA’s priorities of crisis stabilization, mobile crisis, and children. The learning community will focus on leveraging federal funding & policy to increase best practice community-based services that are voluntary, evidence-based, and trauma-informed.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: (1) Understand the disproportionate negative impacts of traditional crisis response systems on over reliance on the police to respond to crises involving communities and people with disabilities, including people with serious mental illness (SMI) or emotional disturbance (SED), and how solutions must be responsive to these disparities; (2) Learn how peer-led, community-based services and supports improve wellness, support communities, and protect civil rights, drawing from real-world examples of programs that have been successfully implemented; and (3) Examine current trends in state and federal policy, including challenges and opportunities to advance peer-led, community-based services for people with SMI or SED.

This is a SAMHSA-Sponsored webinar. Live closed captioning and ASL interpreters will be available.     ***Post materials will be emailed to you within a few days after the     webinar. This will include the recording link, PowerPoint slides and a certificate of attendance as we do not offer CEU credits. For questions, contact Kelle Masten via email at kelle.masten@nasmhpd.org or Paige Thomas at paige.thomas@nasmhpd.org.

Speakers

Vesper Moore: Chief Operating Officer, Kiva Centers (they/elle) Kristina Roth: Senior Policy Associate, Legal Defense Fund (she/her) Ashley Sproul: Peer Facilitator Coordinator, Kiva Centers (she/her) Monica Porter: Policy & Legal Advocacy Attorney, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (she/her)

REGISTER HERE

 Free Fair Housing & Tenant Rights Workshop on April 26th

Whether you are a renter or homeowner, do you know your fair housing and tenant rights? Join Citizens Planning & Housing Association (CPHA) and community partners for an educational workshop. Learn about your rights and resources. The CPHA, the Public Justice Center, Baltimore Renters United, and the Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP will lead presentations. Light refreshments will be provided. Registration is required. CLICK HERE to register. Questions? Contact Char McCready at charm@cphamd.org. ***** Source: CPHA.

 Hate Bias Forum on May 11th

The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, Maryland Office of the Attorney General & Maryland Commission on Civil Rights' Western Maryland Advisory Council will host a Hate Bias Reporting Forum. The Hate Bias Reporting Forum will provide community leaders and members of law enforcement with important information in response to the 2021 Hate Bias Report for the State of Maryland. The forum will engage local law enforcement, elected officials, and community leaders in discussions and information sharing on methods to facilitate more effective reporting as well as responding to bias incidents and hate crimes. For more information, visit our website.  To register, visit the registration page. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND!   Victim of Discrimination? Training & Partnerships HOME      ABOUT MCCR      SERVICES      PUBLICATIONS      EVENTS      PRESS      CONTACT US

Stay Connected with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights

 April 27th Virtual Fair Housing Summit

Human Rights

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. Fair Housing Forum On April 27th, from 9am-3pm, MCCR will host a virtual Fair Housing Summit that will provide targeted workshops, impactful keynote speakers and forums. Topics will include: Discrimination because of race, including Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, indigenous, and other communities of color, and racial bias that restrict housing, neighborhood choice, and integrated communities. Discriminatory appraisals and fair lending Educating the community on protections under the Fair Housing Act and the jurisdiction's substantially equivalent law. This forum is sponsored by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.  For more information or to register, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/602854141967​​     Victim of Discrimination? Training & Partnerships HOME      ABOUT MCCR      SERVICES      PUBLICATIONS      EVENTS      PRESS      CONTACT US

 Hate Crimes

Man Charged in Alleged Threats to Human Rights Campaign After Nashville Shooting

A Maryland man has been charged by federal authorities with making threats of violence to the D.C.-based LGBTQ organization Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in a March 28th voice mail, a day after the killing of six persons at a school in Nashville. Nashville police initially said the shooter, Audrey Hale, was a 28-year-old woman, and later said Hale was transgender, according to Hale's social media profile where he used masculine pronouns. It has not yet been confirmed how Hale identified.

The HRC is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization in the U. S. It "envisions a world where every member of the LGBTQ+ family has the freedom to live their truth without fear, and with equality under the law. We empower our 3 million members and supporters to mobilize against attacks on the most marginalized people in our community."

Since the shooting, some conservative commentators and Republican politicians have cited reports about the shooter’s gender identity in voicing anti-trans sentiments. The voice mail left for the HRC, which federal authorities said was traced to 34-year-old Adam Michael Nettina, of West Friendship, Maryland, used anti-trans rhetoric. Most criminal justice experts report that transgender people are rarely the shooters in mass killings, which are overwhelmingly carried out by men. Multiple studies have shown that trans people are more likely to be victims of violence than others.

In the threatening message to the HRC, the caller said many things that federal authorities said they believed were referring to the Nashville shooting and the shooter’s gender identity, according to court documents. Some threats, laden with profanity, made reference to specific acts of violence. Federal authorities filed a criminal complaint against Nettina on March 31st, and he was arrested later that evening, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Maryland. A detention hearing was held on on April 7th. If convicted, Nettina could face up to five years in federal prison.

A HRC spokesperson's statement said that the organization got two threatening voice mails late in March, and that it is “grateful to law enforcement for acting so quickly to keep our community safe.”

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Read the April 4, 2023 Washington Post article.