2025 Speaker Bios

Tanisha Arena is a Black woman in community leadership as the executive director of ARISE for Social Justice, occupying the world’s messiest intersection, the space where race, gender, culture, identity, politics, and the law all collide. She is a commissioner on the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, advocating for the needs of women and girls across the Commonwealth. She has a passion for social justice, authentic leadership, and speaking truth to power. She is the host of the award-winning podcast, Unapologetic, bringing the hard truths of our social issues to the forefront, connecting past to the present as well as a consultant/trainer for Growing A New Heart and The Sojourner Truth School, all focused on teaching new ways to build connection, facilitate learning, and drive social change. She is a published author, public speaker, and freelance writer, but her best role is being Gram to Penelope, Jaalan, Jr. and Kyle Jr. www.arisespringfield.org

Michelin Cahill is a Senior Supervising Attorney at Community Legal Aid (CLA) in Worcester. She oversees the Fair Housing Project, whose work spans Central and Western Massachusetts. CLA’s Fair Housing Project engages in education, outreach, and direct advocacy to combat housing discrimination. Their case work consists of representing clients in housing discrimination cases, defending against evictions or terminations, and advocating for reasonable accommodations in housing. Prior to being the unit supervisor, Michelin held the positions of Coordinating Attorney and Staff Attorney in the Fair Housing Project. Before coming to Community Legal Aid she was a Staff Attorney at Victim Rights Law Center assisting victims of sexual violence with their civil legal needs related to privacy, safety, and housing. She also worked as the Intake Attorney at the ACLU Pennsylvania, assessing and investigating civil rights violations and overseeing a robust team of volunteers and interns. During law school she interned at Mazzoni Center Legal Services representing LGBTQ+ clients who experienced discrimination in employment and public accommodations. Michelin attended law school at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and earned her undergraduate degree at The George Washington University.

Peyton Cernak serves as the Offender Re-Entry Housing Program Coordinator at the BHA (Burlington Housing Authority), where she is dedicated to supporting individuals transitioning from incarceration into stable housing. This program works closely with community partners, housing providers, and justice-involved individuals to create pathways to secure, sustainable housing solutions. She is committed to reducing housing barriers and ensuring that returning citizens have the resources and support needed to successfully reintegrate into their communities.

Jerren Chang is the President & CEO of Partners in Democracy and the co-founder of GenUnity. Together, Partners in Democracy and GenUnity are supporting the civic learning and leadership development of thousands of Massachusetts residents and advancing policies that enable everyday people to access and shape our democratic institutions.
Jerren also serves as a board member for the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance and Democracy House. Jerren previously worked in the Chicago Mayor’s Office and as a consultant at McKinsey & Company advising public and nonprofit leaders. He holds an MPP & MBA from Harvard University and BS from Duke University.

Chelsea Connery is a staff attorney on the CT Fair Housing Center’s movement lawyering team. In this role she provides legal support for tenant organizing collective bargaining, provides direct representation of organized/organizing tenants, facilitates workshops, and provides legal advice on and advocacy for policy goals. Prior to joining the Center, Chelsea was an educator and a policy researcher and advocate. She received her Ph.D. in Education Policy and J.D. from the University of Connecticut.

Leslie Credle, a Boston-based anti-prison organizer, serving as Justice 4 Housing’s Executive Director, Her lived experience led her to be a champion of change. utilizing her lived experience, Leslie has become a fierce prison abolitionist and social justice advocate. Learn more about Leslie online at https://Justice4housing.org or on Social Media @Justice4Housing

Whitney Demetrius is the Director of Fair Housing for the State’s inaugural Office of Fair Housing at the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC).

EOHLC’s Office of Fair Housing was established by the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Affordable Homes Act to support fair housing initiatives, including enforcement, testing, outreach and education, as well as to collaborate with other state agencies to advance fair housing policies and programs.

For more than a decade Whitney has worked in fair housing and previously served as the Director of Fair Housing and Municipal Engagement at Citizens’ Housing & Planning Association (CHAPA), as the Deputy Director of the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, and currently serves on the board of Metro Housing Boston and the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation.

Whitney is passionate about housing justice and is committed to working to eliminate housing discrimination and promote open and welcoming communities for all.

In 2023 she was recognized with the Metro Housing Boston ‘Rising Star’ Housing Champion award for her passion and commitment to housing.

Julia Devanthéry has co-taught the Housing Law Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School since 2015. The Housing Clinic represents low-income tenants in summary process eviction cases and helps staff the Attorney for the Day program in Eastern Housing Court. In 2017, Julia founded the Housing Justice for Survivors Project in which she trains clinical law students to represent tenants who are facing housing instability due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Julia and her students represented the tenant in BHA v. Y.A., 482 Mass. 240 (2019), in which the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a domestic violence survivor’s right to raise the Violence Against Women Act defense to a non-payment of rent eviction. In addition to clinical teaching, Julia has also worked at the ACLU of Southern California where she fought to safeguard the civil rights of people experiencing homelessness and to advance the right to safe, affordable housing for all. Julia is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and California. She received her juris doctor from Northeastern University School of Law, and she received her BA from Brown University.

Matthew Doherty has nearly 30 years of leadership experience in both the private and public sectors, focused on ending homelessness and the creation and integration of housing, services programs, and economic opportunities. Through his consulting practice, Matthew now provides expert guidance to national, state, and local organizations seeking effective solutions to housing needs and homelessness. Matthew previously served, from 2015 to 2019, as the Executive Director for the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), the federal agency charged with coordinating the federal response to homelessness and with creating national public-private partnerships to end homelessness across the nation, having served in other roles at USICH starting in 2012. Matthew also previously held leadership positions at the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the San Diego Housing Commission, the King County Housing Authority in Washington State, and other organizations. Matthew has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Washington.

Nora Grais-Clements is a Senior Attorney with VRLC. She provides direct representation to victims of sexual assault in Western MA with a focus on safety and privacy matters, and working with victims with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Nora also works with clients on SSI/SSDI, housing, and K-12 education matters. Nora joined VRLC in March 2018. Prior to joining VRLC, Nora worked as a Staff Attorney at the Committee for Public Counsel, in the Children and Family Law Unit, representing low-income clients in child welfare matters. She has a background in social justice work, immigration, and domestic violence advocacy. She received her B.A. from Smith College and her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and Connecticut and is fluent in Spanish.

Ashley Grant is the Director of Fair Housing Enforcement and a Clinical Fellow with the Housing Discrimination Testing Program and Accelerator to Practice Program at Suffolk University Law School. Prior to joining Suffolk University Law School (SULS), Ashley was the Legal Director at the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, where she spent ten years representing victims of housing discrimination in state and federal court, as well as before administrative agencies. In addition to conducting frequent trainings and presentations on fair housing issues, Ashley has also taught courses on housing discrimination at Western New England School of Law and SULS.

Hailey Jenkins serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where she leads investigations and litigation to enforce civil rights laws. Previously, she worked as Associate Counsel for the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means, advising on policy and drafting legislation on a broad range of issues affecting the Commonwealth. Hailey’s career in Massachusetts government reflects her dedication to public service and her work advancing equity and addressing systemic challenges through thoughtful government action.

Jessica Labrencis serves as an attorney and co-director of the Fair Housing Enforcement unit at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center. Jessica litigates housing discrimination cases on behalf of plaintiffs in state and federal courts and in administrative actions. Jessica also regularly advocates for tenants, advises tenants regarding their fair housing rights, assists tenants with self-advocacy, and provides fair housing trainings for community groups. Jessica received her B.A. from Stonehill College and her J.D. magna cum laude from California Western School of Law.

Tanya Mamootil is staff attorney in the Fair Housing Unit at Community Legal Aid in Springfield. She represents low-income tenants in various housing discrimination matters, including eviction defense, subsidy terminations, requesting and enforcing reasonable accommodations, and filing complaints. She also engages in outreach within the community to present know-your-rights trainings on fair housing, especially in the area of voucher discrimination through her work in the Fair Housing Alliance of Massachusetts (FHAM). Prior to joining Community Legal Aid, Tanya obtained her J.D. in 2021 from Michigan State University College of Law and her B.A. in 2018 from the University of Toronto.

Maya McCann is a Staff Attorney for the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Project at the Central West Justice Center (CWJC). At CWJC, Maya runs a Farmworker Medical Legal Partnership (MLP) between CWJC and the Baystate Brightwood Health Center. Through the MLP, Maya represents farmworker families with health harming legal needs including housing, benefits, and employment issues. Maya also delivers know-your-rights trainings in the community and co-leads a coalition of advocates working to remedy legal inequities impacting farmworkers. Maya grew up in Springfield, earned her B.A. from Smith College, and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

Lila Miller is an Attorney at Relman Colfax. Lila joined the firm in 2018. In her civil rights litigation practice, she works on a variety of cases involving discrimination in housing, lending, public accommodations, education, and policing.

Much of Lila’s work has focused on eliminating race-based discrimination in housing, including cases challenging such discriminatory lending practices by banks as the denial of credit to communities of color and targeting communities of color for predatory loans. Lila is also part of the litigation team that challenged the unconstitutional policies and practices of private extradition companies.

Prior to joining the firm, Lila clerked for Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and for Judge Kevin H. Sharp on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. She also litigated individual and class action employment discrimination cases for plaintiff-side firms.

Lila graduated from Stanford Law School, where she received the Deborah L. Rhode Public Interest Award in recognition of outstanding public service.

Rashida Rattray-Reid joined the Connecticut Fair Housing Center in 2020 as the Education and Outreach Coordinator. Rashida’s professional experience is rooted in foreclosure prevention and mitigation counseling and legal administration. In her previous work as a housing counselor, Rashida assisted over 40 families gaining positive outcomes while going through foreclosure. She also has a background in community engagement fostered by her work for the City of Waterbury. At the Center, Rashida facilitates outreach to a multitude of different stakeholders by planning and executing fair housing trainings, maintaining the Center’s social media channels, and brainstorming new ways to connect with the people we serve.

Ben Rodgers is an attorney at the Central West Justice Center. He represents youth farmworkers in immigration and worker justice matters. Ben graduated from Yale Law School in 2024. As a member of Yale’s Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, he represented immigrant workers before trial and appellate courts, and federal and state agencies. Ben worked as a research assistant on immigration and administrative law, transitional justice in Colombia, and alternatives to incarceration, and as a teaching assistant for a seminar on constitutional rights litigation. Before law school, Ben volunteered at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Granger, Washington.

Kelly Vieira, Esq. is the Director of Investigations & Outreach for Suffolk University Law School’s Center for Housing Justice & Policy. In 2020, Attorney Vieira joined HDTP as part of a joint project with the City of Boston’s Office of Fair Housing & Equity. She completed a project where 100 discrimination tests were conducted throughout Boston. Her work primarily focuses on fair housing education, community outreach, and performing discrimination testing throughout Massachusetts. She has been featured on WBUR Radio Boston, CS Monitor, and in the documentary Roxbury as a fair housing expert. Attorney Vieira is a proud Suffolk Law alum who received her J.D. in 2019.