Workshop and
Speakers
20TH ANNUAL
Fair Housing &
Civil Rights Conference
Holyoke Community College
May 27-28, 2026
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, of a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
— John Lewis
2026 Workshops
May 27, 2026
8:45 a.m.
Theater
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Theater
Welcome
Morning Plenary
State of Fair Housing
Hear from fair housing center advocates on tools and strategies on the ground, including litigating with the state agencies as well as in state and federal court to enforce civil rights laws.
Featuring:
Michelin Cahill, Senior Supervising Attorney, Fair Housing Project of Community Legal Aid
Kristina da Fonseca, Executive Director, South Coast Fair Housing
Ashley Grant, Director of Fair Housing Enforcement, Center for Housing Justice & Policy, Supervising Attorney and Clinical Fellow, Accelerator Practice Suffolk University Law School
Vineeth Hemavathi, Executive Director, Mass Fair Housing
Jessica Labrencis, Co-director, Fair Housing enforcement, Staff Attorney, CT Fair Housing Center
Rashida Rattray-Reid, Education and Outreach Coordinator, CT Fair Housing Center
10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
The Collaborative – Frost 256
Immigrant Community Defense Network
Presented by:
Ariana Keigan, Associate Director, Pioneer Valley Workers Center
Javier Luengo-Garrido, Program Director, Community Action, ACLU of Massachusetts
Pioneer Valley Workers Center and ACLU of Massachusetts will discuss what we are seeing on the ground with immigration enforcement in Western Massachusetts and statewide. We will discuss the interventions and strategies our organizations are using to defend our immigrant community against attacks and to build a local and statewide pro-immigrant movement.
Kittredge Center (KC) 301
Reimagining Interim Housing: Update
Presented by:
Emma Coles, DVD/EMERG Coordinator, Three County Continuum of Care
Shaundell Diaz, Program Director, Three County Continuum of Care
This workshop will provide and review the work of the Reimagining Interim Housing project at the national level and also work at the level within the three counties of Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties. Currently, the RIH project team is developing and updating standards and expectations for interim housing and shelter programs. The development of these standards has included holding focus groups with national leadership, shelter providers, direct care staff, and people with lived experience.
Kittredge Center (KC) 303
Clean Air, Fair Housing, and the Threat of Biomass to Both
Presented by:
Naia Tenerowicz, Springfield Climate Justice Coalition
Elizabeth Bewsee, Arise for Social Justice
Teniel Rhiney, Arise for Social Justice
Come learn about the 15-year struggle of the Springfield community to stop a proposed industrial biomass plant in East Springfield as a case study on the intersectionality of threats of pollution to people’s lives and the impact on local residents. Get involved in the ongoing fight for our lives and the well-being of our communities over corporate interests and their pursuit of profit at any cost!
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Theater
LUNCH – Campus Center Cafeteria
Welcome
Holyoke Community College President George Timmons
Afternoon Plenary: Claudia Rosales, Pioneer Valley Workers Center
Claudia Rosales, Executive Director of Pioneer Valley Workers Center, will discuss the work of LUCE, the statewide Massachusetts coalition of immigrant-led grassroots organizations, and its vision for a People’s immigration justice. Ms. Rosales will speak to the value of coalition building to address complex crises, share resources, and increase solidarity and awareness between organizations.
2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
The Collaborative – Frost 265
Fair Housing 101
Presented by:
Alvin Nguyen, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Massachusetts Fair Housing Center.
Rashida Rattray Reid, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Connecticut Fair Housing Center.
Nuri Sherif, Staff Attorney, Mass Fair Housing Center
When we speak of fair housing rights, we are drawing on an interplay of federal and state regulations that can vary in their specifics from state to state but still share a common purpose. With primary focus on one state (Massachusetts), this workshop will explore the basics of how federal and state fair housing laws can join together to create an overall pattern of protection.
Language Access
Presented by:
Iris Coloma Gaines, Statewide Language Access Attorney, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
Theater
When the Affordability Crisis Hits Home – Challenges for Voucher Holders
Presented by:
Brittany Perdigao, SouthCoast Fair Housing Center
Darren Pruslow, Supervising Attorney, CT Veterans Legal Center
Margaret Middleton, Open Communities Alliance
Carter Shannon, DataHaven
For tenants with a housing voucher, the competitive housing market affordability crisis has presented particular challenges. During this session, speakers will explore challenges for voucher holders in the communities they serve with reflections on their experience as advocates and researchers.
3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
KC 301/303
Equitable Relief: Social time with snacks
Join us to mix, mingle, commiserate, and recharge! Free for all conference attendees.
May 28, 2026
9:00 a.m.
Theater
9:00 a.m. to 10:00a.m.
Theater
Welcome
Morning Plenary
Updates from Transhealth
Presented by:
Paige Frost, Director of Strategy, Transhealth
Fari Shakur, Director of Organizational Equity and Belonging, Transhealth
Paige Frost (she/her) and Fari Shakur (he/him) of Transhealth discuss the organization’s mission and priorities and how they continue to center and honor the autonomy and agency of the transgender and gender-diverse communities they care for as we all navigate a rapidly evolving and uncertain health policy landscape.
10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Kittredge Center (KC) 301
Structural & policy reforms at the EEOC, and strategies to protect worker’s civil rights going forward
Presented by:
Christa Douiahy, Senior Supervising Attorney, Employment Law Unit, Community Legal Aid
KC 303
Enforcing Civil Rights Laws on the State Level
Panelists:
Michelle Dumas Keuler, Managing Director – Housing/Training, Commission Counsel, Legal Division, Connecticut Commission for Human Rights
Andrew Espinosa, Deputy Chief of Investigations, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
Jason Flanders, HUD Project Director, Rhode Island Commission on Human Rights
Moderated by:
Theresa Dudek-Rolon, Staff Attorney, Connecticut Fair Housing Center
A panel discussion on civil rights enforcement by state agencies in these times with participants from across New England. This session will cover matters including the landscape of employment and fair housing complaints; changes related to disparate impact, the definition and significance of substantial equivalency; and regional trends among FHAPs in New England.
The Collaborative – Frost 265
Testing for Housing Equity
Presented by:
Theo Peierls, Fair Housing Testing Coordinator, Springfield
Community Legal Aid
Krystal Kilhart, Testing Coordinator, Mass Fair Housing
lll
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Theater
LUNCH – Campus Center Cafeteria
Welcome
Juana Matias, Secretary, Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC)
Afternoon Plenary
Change the Wallpaper – A conversation with Nilanjana Dasgupta
Provost Professor, Psychological & Brain Sciences; Director, Institute of Diversity Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Professor Dasgupta will discuss her book, Change the Wallpaper: Transforming Cultural Patterns to Build More Just Communities which argues for building social justice by changing local cultural “wallpaper”—the subtle, everyday norms, expectations, and physical environments that shape behavior—rather than relying solely on individual actions or bias training.
2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
KC 301
Community Lawyering
Presented by:
Maya McCann-Som, Equal Justice Works Fellow, Central West Justice
Caroline Foley, Staff Attorney, Immigration Unit
Destin Germany, Staff Attorney, Community Lawyering Project
Lin Mao, Staff Attorney, Asian Outreach and Advocacy Project
This panel will examine community lawyering as a tool for supporting communities in need and addressing systems of inequity. Members of the panel will discuss how they engage in community lawyering in their work including work with tenant organizations and immigrant and low wage workers. Participants will leave with a working understanding of community lawyering and examples of how the model can be used to support and empower communities that are systematically and structurally excluded and minoritized.
KC 303
Tenant Organizing and Power
Katie Talbot, Organizing Director, Springfield No One Leaves
Teresa Quintana, Senior Organizer, Make the Road CT.
Staff from Make the Road CT and Springfield No One Leaves will discuss current issues in tenant organizing. This year, tenant unions and advocates that support them in CT and MA have been advocating for legislative changes to expand tenant protections, organized to improve conditions in housing, and have held landlords and state and municipal governments accountable to the renters who make up a significant portion of their constituencies. Hear from CT and MA organizers who are building tenant power and advancing tenant rights through grassroots activism