Serving the Underserved

 

The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston's ESOL Fair Housing Training Program. 

Who are the underserved?

Underserved are individuals who fall within one or more of the categories protected under the Fair Housing Act and who are:

• Of an immigrant population (especially racial ethnic minorities who are no English-speaking or have limited English proficiency);
   
• In rural populations
   
• Homeless
   
• Persons with disabilities (physical or mental) or
   
• Persons in areas that are heavily populated with minorities and there is inadequate protection and ability to provide service from the State or local government or private fair housing organizations.

The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston provides ESOL Train the Teachers Training to reach no to limited English speaking people to ensure they have information to protect their rights under the law.

To date, we have trained approximately 15 teachers who have taught approximately 160 people on Fair Housing Rights.

I am so pleased that our Center can provide "Fair Housing Rights" training to the underserved. "Everyone has the right to information that can protect their civil rights."

If you are an organization, with certified ESOL teachers who are interested in our ESOL Fair Housing Rights Training; and/or if you know of someone who needs Fair Housing Rights Training in their own language, please contact Kamaria Carrington at 617-399-0491 x 105.

Congratulations to Kamaria Carrington and Ann Seligsohn for their outstanding job!

Kamaria Carrington
Education & Outreach Specialist

Kamaria Carrington came to FHCGB in November 2009 as the Fair Housing Specialist for the Education and Outreach program.

She attended Bard College where she majored in Anthropology and African/African Diaspora Studies and later enrolled in the Tufts Urban Environmental Policy & Planning Graduate Program. Her background in socio-economic political issues, policy, affordable housing, and community development helped to frame her knowledge and drive in the world of fair housing.

The Education and Outreach program's goal is to work to eliminate housing discrimination by informing the general public about their rights and housing providers on how to comply with the law. Kamaria's responsibilities as the Fair Housing Specialist vary, and include attending coalition meetings, providing trainings to community based organizations, protected classes of people and housing industries including, firms, brokers, real estate agents, landlords, attorneys, etc. She has coordinated advertising campaigns and updates outreach material to be dispersed throughout the community on a regular basis. The objective is to inform the general public of the fair housing rights and the advocacy services the FHCGB provides. This is to ensure that the FHCGB is visible, accessible and can respond to the concerns of area communities.

The FHCGB recently launched the "Know Your Fair Housing Rights" ESOL curriculum. The FHCGB currently collaborates with ten partner organizations. Kamaria worked tirelessly to develop the curriculum, establish partnerships with area organizations, design this pilot programming, and implement it with the help of area ESOL teacher and directors.

The goal of this program is to educate individuals who are learning English about their fair housing rights. And specifically, work more directly and accessibly with immigrant community members. Currently there are ten partner organizations who have enthusiastically committed to this pilot programming.

Kamaria has a great passion for her outreach work. It provides her an opportunity to meet and commune with other organizations which ultimately gives access to an even larger landscape and demographic.

Kamaria grew up in the Medford area and currently resides in Somerville where she met her partner. She loves to cook, travel and go biking. After over a year of working intricately in fair housing, Kamaria now has a new found interest in pursuing a law degree.

Ann Seligsohn
Education & Outreach Specialist

Ann was destined to end up in the world of fair housing. Ann began her career on the housing provider side of the industry. After her first day of working as a real estate agent she became privy to the ugly realities and prejudiced perceptions of agents and ultimately home seekers as well.

When she saw an advertisement for a fair housing position she decided to change her role to monitoring and training agents. Her hope was to ensure housing choice and to work towards making welcoming and diverse communities.

Ann became the Fair Housing Director of Westchester Residential Opportunities Inc. (WRO), a non-profit organization promoted to equal, affordable and accessible housing opportunities for all residents throughout the region. She served in this capacity for over 20 years. Ann trained thousands of agents in the Westchester area and also helped to initiate the Shelter Plus Care Program. She helped to change the climate between real estate agents and the WRO.

Ann relocated to Boston to be closer to family. She joined the FHCGB in October 2010 as the part-time Fair Housing Specialist, for the Education and Outreach program. This capacity perfectly combines both her passions of fair housing and teaching.
 
She has been married to her husband for forty-nine years, has four children and five grandchildren of whom she is very proud of and loves dearly. Her part-time responsibilities at the Center give her the opportunity to still be a devoted and active grandmother, mother and wife. She received her BS in teaching from New York University.

Michelle Waters-Ekanem is the Director of Diversity for the Department of Environmental Protection [MassDEP] in Boston, MA. 

MassDEP is the state agency responsible for ensuring clean air and water, the safe management of toxics and hazards, the recycling of solid and hazardous wastes, the timely cleanup of hazardous waste site and spills and the preservation of wetlands and coastal resources.

As the Director of Diversity, Michelle is responsible for Governor Deval Patrick's diversity mandate, Executive Order 478, of equal opportunity and inclusion. Michelle handles the day to day operations of the agency's diversity efforts of internal and external inclusion by promoting and developing equal opportunity within MassDEP. 

Michelle has over seventeen of years experience in the civil rights arena. She worked at the Boston Housing Authority as the Director of Civil Rights. In this capacity, she maintained compliance of BHA's Zero Tolerance Policy. Michelle notes that one of the highlights of her time with the BHA was working with residents and community groups to co-produce a play entitled SKIN, which dealt with overcoming racial stereotypes.

In 1992, Michelle began her career in civil rights while employed at Greater Boston Legal Services as an advocate for housing and as their Civil Rights Officer.

She is the recipient of the Dow Landrum Award for legal services to underrepresented groups, the National Lawyers Guild Award, the Diversity Coalition Award and many other awards of distinction.

In her diversity work she commonly says "You have to do more than offer a seat at the table. Making sure that everyone is included at the table is the true art of cultural dining."

In addition to her work with MassDEP, Michelle serves as an Advisory Member of the YWCA's Diversity Dialogues, a member of the Anti-Defamation League's Civil Rights Committee and Co-Chair of the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston. Michelle is a founding member of the FHCGB and has served for almost thirteen years.

On December 31, 2010, the MCAD issued a finding of Probable Cause in a case brought on the basis of familial status/lead paint.

The complainant alleged that a real estate agent refused to show her available apartments because she had a young child and the lead paint status of the properties was unknown. Testing conducted by FHCGB supported the complainant's allegations. FHCGB filed the complaint on behalf of the complainant and then worked in with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in their further pursuit of the matter.