Ensuring Access to Housing for Returning Citizens & Housing Subsidy Holders

On February 1st, WLC and Cohen Milstein filed a complaint in Superior Court on behalf of the Equal Rights Center alleging that two Northwest DC apartment complexes, Latrobe Apartment Homes in Logan Circle and Vaughan Place in McLean Gardens, discriminated against potential tenants who relied on housing subsidies. The lawsuit also alleges that AIR Communities, the owner and manager of the complexes, created unlawful barriers for applicants who have criminal records more than 7 years old and evictions more than 3 years old. The websites for both complexes featured language explicitly stating that such practices were in effect, statements which ERC later confirmed through fair housing testing. All of these policies violate DC’s consumer protection and fair housing laws. Because these sorts of barriers overwhelmingly impact Black and Brown applicants, they affect insidious race discrimination and serve to make the District even more segregated. Click for more details.

Pursue Lasting Change Associates Campaign 2024

Join the 2024 Associates Campaign!

The 2024 Associates Campaign will run from February 1 through March 28. Join us in supporting the fight for racial justice in the DMV!

Want to get your firm involved? Contact han_le@washlaw.org.

Support your firm's campaign here.

WLC announces the appointment of nine new board members

We welcome board members Justin Alex, Nowell Bamberger, Dwight Bostwick, Milo Cividanes, Leon Rodriguez, Liat Rome, Jaime Santos, Aman Sidhu, and Gail Westover to the Washington Lawyers' Committee. Read more about them here.

What's Coming Down the Pike?

Photo of Department of Corrections Central Detention Facility sign and building

📅Wednesday, February 7th

Next Wednesday, the DC Department of Corrections will hold a hearing on its poor conditions and systemic denial of healthcare to inmates. Join Olivia Grob-Lipkis for her testimony on this continuing issue, which has been deemed 'cruel and unusual punishment' by the Supreme Court.

Click here for more details.

📅Tuesday, February 13th

On Feb. 13, the DC Council will hold an oversight hearing on DC’s Metropolitan Police Department. Tune in to hear Dennis Corkery testify on our newly published DC gang database report and against dangerous provisions of the Secure Bill that threaten civil rights.

Click for more details.

📅Wednesday, February 21st @ 12pm

Join us for a panel on WLC's racial justice strategy. Come learn about pro bono opportunities in policing, housing justice, and education equity. The in-person event will be held at Arnold and Porter at 12 pm. Register here.

Blue and Yellow graphic that reads" Bending the Arc: WLC’s 2024 Racial Justice Agenda Ryan Downer Moderator, Legal Director Kelechi Agbakwuru Housing Justice Counsel Dennis Corkery Interim Supervising Counsel Marja Plater John E. Nolan Youth Justice Senior Counsel On the DC Gang Database, Housing Conditions, and Education Equity Wednesday, February 21 12:00 - 1:00 pm Arnold & Porter 601 Massachusetts Ave, NW Washington, DC 20001-3743 www.washlaw.org/event/2024-bending-the-arc/

📅Wednesday, March 20

Join us for a book talk with Professor Tricia Rose on her upcoming book Metaracism, a bracing and invaluable new account of what systemic racism actually is, how it works, and how we can fight back. Professor Tricia Rose directs the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University.

The talk will be held on March 20th, 5:30 PM at Crowell & Moring LLP. RSVP today!

Photo from the 2023 Branton Luncheon of WLC Board co-chairs Jamie Gardner and Claudia Withers, Branton awardee Lew Wiener, and Executive Director Joanne Lin.

📅Wednesday, May 29

The 2024 Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon will be held on May 29th from 11:30 AM - 2 PM at the JW Marriott.

Please join us in celebrating outstanding pro bono civil rights achievements by area law firms and advocates.

We are proud to announce that the recipient of the 2024 Wiley A. Branton Award will be Vanita Gupta, former US Associate Attorney General and civil rights leader. Please stay tuned for more details leading up to the event!

Reach Out to Us

Ryan Downer ✉ Legal Director
Joanne Lin ✉ Executive Director

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