Workshop and
Speakers
20TH ANNUAL
Fair Housing &
Civil Rights Conference
May 27-28, 2026
2026 Workshops
May 27, 2026
8:45 a.m.
Kittredge Center
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Kittredge Center
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
Pamela Heller, Co-director, Fair Housing enforcement, Staff Attorney, CT Fair Housing Center
Jessica Labrensis, 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.
Location TBD
Protecting Our Immigrant Neighbors
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.
Location TBD
Reimagining Interim Housing: Update
Presented by:
Emma Coles, DVD/EMERG Coordinator, Community Action
Shaundell Diaz, Program Director, Community Action
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.
Location TBD
TBD
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
LUNCH
Welcome
Holyoke Community College President George Timmons
Afternoon Plenary
TBD
2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Location TBD
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.
Location TBD
Language Access
Presented by:
Iris Coloma Gaines, Statewide Language Access Attorney, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
Location TBD
TBD
Presented by:
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Kittredge Center
Equitable Relief: Social time with snacks and drinks
Join us to mix, mingle, commiserate, and recharge! Free for all conference attendees.
May 28, 2026
9:00 a.m.
Kittredge Center
9:00 a.m. to 10:00a.m.
Kittredge Center
Welcome
Keith Fairey, President and CEO, Way Finders
Morning Plenary
Updates from Transhealth
Presented by:
Paige Frost, Director of Strategy, Transhealth
Fari Shakur, Director of Organizational Equity and Belonging, Transhealth
Fari Shakur and Paige Frost of Transhealth share their mission, how their work has adapted to meet the needs of their clients, and why their organization serves a critical need for our times.
10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Location TBD
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
Location TBD
Enforcing Civil Rights Laws on the State Level
Presented by:
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
Michael Memolo, Executive Director, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
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.
Location TBD
TBD
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Kittredge Center
LUNCH
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.
Location TBD
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.
Location TBD
TBD
Location TBD
Tenant Organizing and Power
Chelsea Connery, Staff Attorney, CT Fair Housing Center.
Luke Melonakos-Harrison, Community Organizer, CT Fair Housing Center.
Sarah White, Staff Attorney, CT Fair Housing Center.
Attorneys and organizers from CT Fair Housing Center and CT Tenants Union will engage in a panel discussion about current issues in tenant organizing. This year in Connecticut, tenant unions have been at the core of legislative advocacy for expanding just cause eviction protection, improving conditions in housing developments across the state, and holding landlords and state and municipal governments accountable to the renters who make up a significant portion of the state’s residents. Hear from CT Advocates who are organizing for tenant power and advancing tenant rights through grassroots activism.